Guwahati: The RPP claims that one of the people summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act of 2002 is Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio’s Personal Assistant.
On February 24, the Guwahati Zonal Office’s Enforcement Directorate issued summon orders to five inhabitants of Sovima Village: Kuovisieo Rio, Mengutuo Rio, Dsesevi Pielie, Vibeilietuo Kets, and Mhalelie Rio.
The incident came to light lately when their petitions for interim protection were denied by the Gauhati High Court’s Kohima Bench.
The RPP noted in a press release issued on Thursday that at least two of the five people had CBI cases pending against them since 2019.
“The biggest surprise in the ED case is that Kuovisieo Rio, who was appointed as the Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio’s Personal Assistant in the CMO, is one of the five people ordered to appear before the ED in Guwahati. This is nothing less than a personal attack on the Chief Minister “, it declared.
The party went on to say, “Apart from the Personal Assistant, the other four (people) are thought to be close confidants of the Chief Minister. It is the Chief Minister’s responsibility to clear the air on the money laundering case. The ED summon letter was issued on February 24 of this year, but the CM and CMO’s utter silence in this case till now is a story in and of itself.”
It urged that the Chief Minister hold a news conference to address the situation and put all suspicions to rest.
The RPP also asked the Enforcement Directorate to take the case all the way to the end.
“This is the first summons in the state’s history, and the beleaguered general population, reeling from flagrant corruption, is beginning to believe that the long arm of the law will finally prevail. The claim that the ED is being utilised as a “political weapon” by the federal government should not be raised in this case “, it declared.