11 May 2009
Thiruvananthapuram, May 11: Kerala Governor R S Gavai has sought further clarifications from the state government on the legal opinion forwarded by state Advocate General (AG) C P Sudhakara Prasad, that there was no firm ground to grant permission to prosecute CPI(M) state Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan in connection with the SNC-Lavalin case.
The legal opinion from the AG, the minutes of the cabinet decision in the case, forwarded by the state government and the related documents and reports received from CBI were being examined in detail, a Raj Bhavan press release said here.
The clarifications sought for are awaited from the government, it said, adding that an appropriate decision would be taken as stipulated in the Constitutional provisions, after considering all aspects.
The statement was issued in the wake of the "conflicting news and views appearing in the media" in relation to the matter of granting sanction to prosecute Vijayan in the case, it said.
The SNC-Lavalin case relates to alleged corruption in awarding of contract for renovation of three hydro power stations in 1997 to Canadian firm SNC Lavalin, when Vijayan was state Power Minister.
Four months back, CBI had written to Governor, seeking permission to prosecute Vijayan, who in turn, referred the matter to the state government.
Considering the political ramifications, the government had referred the matter to the Advocate General.
Why should the Power Minister of the state agree for a grant of 98 crores for a medical project? Even when the Balanandan commision commented that a cheaper alternative had to be opted (fyi; BHEL had quoted 100.5 crores as against 383.4 crores quoted by Lavalin). If everything went as per the law of the land, why should one ignore the suggestions of the commision and sign off the contract in a haste? Also would like to add that there was no official memorandum signed between the the Kerala Govt and Lavalin as Mr. Mohan Kumar was not the authorised representative of the govt. of Kerala. In this age when we are not very sure of the money even when we have a contract signed, we are now staring at 200+ crores going nowhere.... Kudos.!!!
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