K-FON and AI camera avenues for corruption, says UDF

The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) has said that the Kerala Fibre Optic Network (K-FON) launched by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is a vehicle for big-ticket corruption

The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) has said that the Kerala Fibre Optic Network (K-FON) launched by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is a vehicle for big-ticket corruption.

Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan alleged the trail of the graft and nepotism in the ₹1,548-crore scheme to provide affordable Internet to households and government offices in Kerala led to Mr. Vijayan’s doorstep.

He said Mr. Vijayan’s former Principal Secretary M. Sivasankar, currently in judicial custody on money-laundering charges, opened the gates of graft by increasing the K-FON tender amount by ₹550 crore in an off-the-cuff manner.

Mr. Satheesan alleged that a private firm “linked to a relative of Mr. Vijayan” was one of the beneficiaries of Mr. Sivasankar’s “illegal order.” The government contracted the firm to establish Point of Presence (POP) infrastructure for K-FON. The “paper company,” not an original equipment manufacturer, sourced “low-quality” material from manufacturers in China and Oman.

The company used the same modus operandi to bag the KELTRON traffic camera contracts.

Mr. Satheesan alleged that K-FON contracted another firm with no manufacturing expertise or machinery to supply the underground fibre optic cables and allied infrastructure for laying the network. Instead, the firm imported cables of “dubious quality” from China.

Mr. Satheesan said no Minister had come out to defend Mr. Vijayan against the accusations of corruption in the multi-crore K-FON and traffic camera contracts. “Their silence prompted Tourism Minister P.A. Mohamed Riyas, who is related to Mr. Vijayan, to send a veiled warning to Ministers to come out in defence of the Chief Minister or face political ostracism,” Mr. Satheesan said.