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A Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) report, which raises questions astir the legality of the Leader of the Opposition, V.D. Satheesan, marshalling overseas funds ostensibly for the rehabilitation of flood victims successful his constituency successful Paravoor, Ernakulam, successful 2018, emerged successful the nationalist domain connected Sunday (January 4, 2026), stirring governmental controversy.
According to VACB officials, the agency’s probe into allegations of fraud and the amerciable diversion of funds for the Punarjani rehabilitation task dragged connected for astir 7 years. They said the prefatory probe study reviewed by the past director, Yogesh Gupta, successful aboriginal 2025, indicated imaginable offences nether the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010.
“The investigators who submitted the study noted that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was the competent bureau to analyse violations of the FCRA, a Central Act. Hence,” the officials said, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs had jurisdiction implicit the matter, and not the State Government arsenic wide assumed.
Officials noted that the State Government’s consent was not a prerequisite for the CBI to analyse allegations against Mr. Satheesan regarding suspected FCRA violations, dissimilar different transgression offences, which autumn nether provincial governments’ purview. “Hence, a governmental determination from the authorities to notation the lawsuit to the CBI is not mandatory successful the case, a Home section insider noted.
The allegation against Mr. Satheesan centres connected his 2019 sojourn to the U.K., astatine the behest of a charitable foundation, to rise funds for rebuilding flood-damaged houses and to administer sewing machines to displaced families successful Paravoor.
Last year, Mr. Satheesan defended the Punarjani strategy successful the Assembly, claiming that the charitable instauration that financed the Punarjani task held FCRA registration. He besides rejected accusations that funds were illegally diverted, claiming the transactions were conducted done ineligible banking channels, audited, and reflected successful the fiscal records.
The Congress Speaking to reporters successful Wayanad, Mr. Satheesan said, “The authorities had attempted to driblet a governmental bombshell by seeking to implicate him successful a overseas backing ungraded but had failed. He said back-to-back VACB enquiries had cleared him of immoderate wrongdoing.”
“Now, the authorities is raising the FCRA space to divert attraction from the embarrassing condemnation of Left Democratic Front (LDF) legislator, Antony Raju, for tampering with grounds successful a narcotic case,” helium added.
Mr. Satheesan said the timing of the media merchandise of a “cherry-picked” mentation of the VACB study was telling. “In 2021, the LDF had referred baseless (sexual assault) charges against an array of apical Congress leaders, including the UDF’s past prima campaigner, Oommen Chandy, to the CBI to change the arc of the governmental narrative. The authorities has taken a leafage retired of the aforesaid go-to-election strategy playbook successful 2026, helium added.
CPI(M) Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State Secretary M.V. Govindan said the LDF did not subscribe to the Congress’s presumption that the CBI was the last connection oregon arbitrator. “Maybe, the authorities volition person to accidental much connected the issue, helium said.
