Thiruvananthapuram, Friday, January 23, 2009: Based on the progress report produced by the CBI in the court a private channel has confirmed that CPM State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan is the ninth accused in the case, followed by former electricity department joint secretary A Francis who is the tenth accused. Former electricity department principal secretary K Mohanachandran is the first accused in the Rs 300-crore SNC-Lavalin scam.
In its report, the CBI has alleged that Pinarayi Vijayan who was the electricity minister then, was is involved in the criminal conspiracy related to the case and the agreement with the SNC Lavalin company was finalized without consulting the central government or Central energy department, Hydel Power Corporation.
The report further says that, the agreement had flouted all guidelines and points out serious lapses. The involvement of Malabar Cancer Centre at Kodiyeri near Thalassery, which is an autonomous centre under Government of Kerala is also dubious. About Rs 100 crore, which was promised by the Canadian, firm Lavalin for the development of the Malabar Cancer Center. However, only about Rs 16 crore was given to the center.
The findings and suggestions of E Balanandan and Zubaida Committees constituted by the Government were ignored.
The progress report in the case was submitted on Thursday before the High Court and CBI Special court by CBI Chennai unit DYSP, Ashok Kumar, in a sealed cover, ahead of the January 23 deadline set by the High Court to the agency to complete the investigation and file its report.
The 11-year-old politically sensitive case relates to alleged corruption with regard to the award of consultancy and renovation contracts of Panniyar, Shengulam and Pallivasal hydel projects to Canada’s biggest engineering firm, SNC Lavalin, which caused a loss of about Rs 374.5 crore to the state exchequer.
According to CBI sources, investigation has been completed and charge sheet will be filed against the accused after obtaining sanction from the Governor and Chief secretary.
The CPM polit bureau, which met extended its full support to Pinarayi Vijayan asserting that the party leader was innocent.
This is the first time that a polit bureau member was facing corruption charges. The timing of the case is also causing tremendous worry for state CPM as the Lok Sabha elections are just two months away.
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