Political storm in Kerala after CM's legal advisor appears for lottery baron Santiago Martin

By Team Asianet Newsable | First Published Jul 5, 2016, 7:12 AM IST

Kicking up a political row, MK Damodaran, the legal advisor to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan appeared in the High Court for controversial Lottery baron Santiago Martin in an enforcement case. Congress has hit out at the Vijayan ministry in Kerala alleging that the left government was fully sponsored by Martin.

Damodaran, who is also a former Advocate General, appeared before the High Court for Martin questioning the move of Enforcement Directorate to confiscate the assets of the lottery baron in connection with the lottery scam.

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The leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala demanded that Damodaran should relinquish the post of the legal advisor to the Chief Minister or the latter should remove him from the post.

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President VM Sudheeran and Vice President VD Satheesan also rapped Damodaran. "The whole episode vindicates our earlier allegations that the CPM had a secret deal with the lottery king and online lottery mafia," said Satheesan. "This government is fully sponsored by Martin."

Also read: VS politically motivated, Kerala Govt. in Supreme Court

Satheesan also demanded CPM veteran and former Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan make his stand clear on the matter. During the previous LDF government, Achuthanandan himself said that Martin drained Rs. 80,000 crores from Kerala. So he should open up now, he said.

The CPM had faced serious corruption allegations during the Achuthanandan ministry after the revelation that the party mouthpiece received crores from the lottery baron. Under pressure, the party escaped further embarrassment by officially announcing that the money would be returned to Martin.

On Monday, Damodaran appeared for Martin in a case in which the Central Government is the respondent. The state government's revision petition against the CBI decision to write off 23 cases against Martin is also under consideration in the High Court.

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