Kerala’s Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government and its enablers in the right-wing corporate media were seeking to divert public attention from the administration’s botched flood response by laying down a smoke screen of lies about the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s candid effort to invigorate the State’s sports sector by seeking to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup-winning Argentina football team and its captain, Lionel Messi, for a friendly exhibition match in Kochi in 2025.

Mr. Vijayan’s response assumed political significance against the backdrop of news reports that the government was on the cusp of ordering an anti-corruption enquiry into the “failed” scheme, which, according to a recent Sports department internal enquiry, cost the public exchequer dearly and simultaneously opened the door to alleged malpractices, including money laundering, service tax fraud, self-dealing, and corruption, among other offences.

Mr Vijayan said the project did not come to fruition despite the best efforts of the parties involved. He said the government merely backed a private sponsor’s proposal to host the team and Mr. Messi in Kerala in 2025. However, it was not party to any agreement between the private sponsor and the Argentine Football Association. The LDF government had neither invested in the project nor taken on any financial responsibility, including as a guarantor. “Former Sports Minister V. Abdurahiman has clarified that the public exchequer sustained no loss,” he added.

Welcomes probe

When asked about Mr Abdurahiman’s visit to Spain to transact with the AFA at the “sponsor’s behest”, Mr. Vijayan said: “A Minister requires no contractual agreement with any entity to travel abroad”. Mr Vijayan said the LDF welcomed the enquiry. “Kerala is a footballing State. Argentina and Messi have huge followings. Some issues cropped up in the contract between the sponsor and the AFA. The State is not a party to their agreement,” Mr. Vijayan added.

Mr. Vijayan said as former Chief Minister he was not “obligated to understand the As and Bs of the bid to bring Messi in granular detail”. Mr. Vijayan said the UDF government believes that the Sports department’s questionable enquiry reports give it a propaganda advantage to get back at the LDF for spotlighting the administration’s apathetic and inept disaster response. “The previous LDF government has done no wrong in the matter,” he said.

The charges in the report, officials had said on Tuesday, reportedly included massive service tax fraud on foreign remittances, contraventions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), abuse of power resulting in loss to the public exchequer, and “shady financial transactions” involving offshore entities, among other charges that could potentially trigger the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate, Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) and GST department probes. The report also flagged a loss of ₹13 lakh to the exchequer for underwriting Mr. Abdurahiman’s Spain visit, and recommended an enquiry by the VACB.

Published - August 12, 2026 04:10 pm IST