Conspiracy charges against Pinarayi

The CBI has charged CPI(M) Politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan with criminal conspiracy and arraigned him as the ninth accused...

The CBI has charged CPI(M) Politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan with criminal conspiracy and arraigned him as the ninth accused in the SNC-Lavalin corruption case. As per the progress report submitted in the CBI Special Court in Kochi,two Lavalin employees and senior members of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) are among the 11 accused.

The report has put up a strong case against Pinarayi,who was the power minister from 1996 to 1998,saying he had colluded with first accused K Mohan Chandran (then principal secretary,KSEB) and joined the criminal conspiracy which was allegedly hatched by the fourth accused R Sivadasan (then board chairman) and others for entering into a contract with SNC-Lavalin. It was tenth accused A Francis (a board joint secretary) who had encouraged Pinarayi to go ahead with the deal.

The agency said Pinarayi exerted pressure on KSEB officials who raised objections against the deal with the Canadian firm. The report said Pinarayi led a high-level delegation to Canada for inking the deal,flouting all norms in this regard. The deal was signed without floating a global tender,it said,adding that the idea of setting up a cancer centre,as part of the renovation of the three hydel power projects,was mooted by Pinarayi himself. Ultimately,the cancer centre did not get the promised amount.

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Pinarayi even overlooked the recommendations of the expert committee led by E Balanandan which said the power projects could be repaired at a cost of Rs 105 and the work could be handed over to BHEL. Finally,the contract was awarded to SNC-Lavalin at a cost of Rs 375 crore. The deal was finalised without the concurrence of Central Government agencies in the power sector. The CBI also found the operations of the consultancy firm Technicalia mysterious.

Pinarayi,who had links with Lavalin even prior to the deal,had tried to bring the cancer centre under his Power Ministry and not the Health Department,the CBI claimed.

Meanwhile,Raj Bhavan officials said the file seeking Kerala Governor R S Gavais sanction to prosecute Pinarayi was still under perusal. We are examining the whole thing, said the Governors secretary K Ajith Kumar.

Besides,the CBI request seeking sanction to prosecute the former bureaucrats has been moved to the Home Department,which would consult the Law Department before taking a final decision.

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The CPI(M) state secretariat which met here on Friday decided to fight the case politically. The Congress move to attack Pinarayi using the CBI was unethical,it said.

Chief Minister V S Achuthandandan,who returned from New Delhi on Friday,chose not to comment on the developments. But sources close to him said he had returned with an assurance from the leadership that the demand for removing Pinarayi from the post of secretary would be looked into at a later stage.

Pinarayi also kept away from the media while the Congress and the BJP stepped up their campaign against the tainted Communist leader.