Lavalingate: Clinching proof against Pinarayi

24 Jan 2009,

NEW DELHI: The self-righteous CPM may find the going tough as the CBI has claimed to have found clinching evidence that its Kerala unit secretary
Pinarayi Vijayan had indulged in a criminal conspiracy and abuse of his position as electricity minister to cut a sweetheart deal with Canadian power company SNC-Lavalin.

The CBI has charged Mr Vijayan with colluding with then principal secretary in power department K Mohanachandran and joint secretary A Francis to swing the deal in SNC Lavalin’s favour. According to the progress report submitted to a CBI court in Kochi, the contract was awarded without taking the permission of the Centre or calling a global tender.

Under the rules, any contract over Rs 100 crore require sanction from the Centre. The SNC Lavalin deal was worth Rs 374.50 crore. Besides, the then government did not abide by the NHPC guidelines. The CBI has said that even the Kerala Cabinet was not properly briefed and vital information was deliberately suppressed. Dubbing the contract as illegal, the CBI’s progress report said the Kerala government incurred a loss of around Rs 86 crore.

Mr Vijayan is the ninth among the 11 accused in the report on the deal awarded in 1997 to renovate and modernise three power projects in Kerala’s Idukki district. The accusations against Vijayan are bound to be disturbing for the CPM, which was waiting to see the ‘specific charges’ against him.

It has been taking refuge in the spurious argument that the CBI case against him was politically motivated. Though the party polit bureau backed Mr Vijayan and is questioning the credibility of the CBI, the chief minister has queered the pitch for Vijayan by demanding his removal from the party post at an in-house meeting.

The investigation by the vigilance department was handed over to the CBI on January 17, 2007, by the Kerala high court, which is monitoring the progress of the investigations. Incidentally, the polit bureau had on Thursday claimed the probe was ordered on the behest of the previous Ommen Chandy government.

Others accused in the case include K G Rajasekharan, Mr Mathew Roy, Mr R Sivadasan, Kasturiranga Iyer, A Gopalakrishnan, P A Sidhartha Menon, Mr Claud Tindel and SNC Lavalin.