No ground to list Chandy as accused in palmolein case

[1]

A vigilance probe on Saturday gave a clean chit to Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy holding there was no ground to list him as an accused in the palmolein import corruption case in the 1990s when he was finance minister in the then UDF ministry, headed by late Congress veteran K. Karunakaran.

The further investigation report submitted to the court by Superintendent of Police,Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau, V. N. Sasidharan, said there was no evidence at all to include Chandy as an accused in the case.

The facts, evidences and circumstances of the case in the probe showed Chandy had not committed any illegal acts or omissions as the then finance minister, said the report, which was submitted before the Inquiry Commissioner and special judge (vigilance).

Though Chandy was never an accused in the case, his name figured following a discharge petition filed by former food minister T. H. Mustaffa last year.

Mustaffa, second accused in the case, had pleaded that justice given to Chandy by not making him an accused in the case should also be given to him (Mustaffa).

Seizing on the development, the previous CPI(M) led-LDF government had filed a petition, seeking a further probe, stating that more persons were likely to become accused.

The long-pending corruption case, in which Karunakaran was first accused, had cost P. J. Thomas the post of Central Vigilance Commissioner. Thomas was listed as sixth accused in the case,relating to import of 32,000 tonnes of palmolein from Malaysia, causing a loss of Rs 2.32 crore to the exchequer.

A vigilance judge hearing the case had some months back recused himself from the case after he was accused of political bias by Government chief whip P. C. George.

The probe report filed on Saturday said materials in the file relating to the import revealed that Chandy as finance minister saw the file for the first and last time only on November 27, 1991, just before the cabinet meeting.