Chandy gets two months of respite

The Kerala High Court on Friday gave Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Power Minister Aryadan Mohammed a two-month respite from being investigated by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau.

The vigilance court in Thrissur on Thursday had ordered a probe with registration of an FIR against Mr. Chandy and Mr. Mohammed, who are in the centre of a political storm over corruption allegations raised by Saritha S Nair, a key accused in the solar scam that has rocked the State. While staying the vigilance court directive in response to writ petitions filed by Mr. Chandy and Mr. Mohammed, the High Court came down heavily on S.S. Vasan, the vigilance judge who had issued the order based on a complaint by a local activist.

Editorial: Oommen Chandy must resign

Justice P. Ubaid severely castigated the judge, observing that the complaint was based on newspaper reports and a CD of unknown content, and newspaper reports have only hearsay value. He also remarked that the Supreme Court had made it obligatory to cause a preliminary inquiry on a complaint made under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) before it was forwarded to the police with a directive to register a crime and investigate it.

Soon after the High Court order, Mr. Vasan, who has two more years until retirement, e-mailed the High Court Registrar, requesting to be allowed to put in his papers.

Charges a political conspiracy: Chandy

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Power Minister Aryadan Mohammed in their writ petitions before the High Court against the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau order, contended that scam accused Saritha S. Nair’s revelations were based on a conspiracy, and made with an ulterior motive to obtain pecuniary advantage from parties with vested interests, besides to effect a withdrawal of the ongoing investigation into crimes committed by her.

They also alleged that the State’s Opposition parties may have had an active role in it, claiming they were “hand in glove with anti-government forces to capitalise on politically, in the upcoming elections to the Assembly.”

Even as the High Court was delivering its order, sporadic violence erupted in many districts across Kerala leaving many injured, with workers of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and the BJP protesting against Mr. Chandy’s refusal to quit office clashing with the police.

Meanwhile, Ms. Nair deposed before the Justice Sivarajan panel probing the solar scam on Friday. Her deposition will continue on Saturday.

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Chandy’s son was also involved in solar scam: Saritha

Saritha Nair, one of the main accused in solar panel scam, having first dragged Chief Minister Oommen Chandy into the case, on Friday claimed his son Chandy Oommen as the one who was closely involved in it.

Ms. Saritha made the disclosure on the third day of her deposition before the Solar Judicial commission, and said she met the chief minister many times and not just three times as mentioned by Mr. Oommen Chandy before the commission.

She said there was a picture of hers that had come out at a function at Kottayam where she met the chief minister and on that day she was talking about a new company to be formed by his son Mr. Chandy Oommen and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy agreed to that.

Ms. Saritha on Thursday alleged that she gave Rs.1.90 crore in bribes to the chief minister in two instalments through a person called Thomas Kuruvilla, based in Delhi.

On Friday, she added that the Oommen Chandy’s son was always available on Mr. Kuruvilla’s mobile phone when they discussed the solar panel business and the formation of a new company to import solar panels.

Ms. Saritha also claimed there were speculations about a relationship between her and Mr. Chandy Oommen. But she was not the woman mentioned in that story, but another one who was involved in the solar company.

Ms. Saritha said that chief minster’s son had made trips with the other woman to the West Asia.

She then said all the evidence of the relationship between Mr. Chandy Oomen and the other woman is in the custody of state Minister for Forests Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan.

Ms. Saritha informed the commission that she would not make any revelation about the sleaze stories that were heard when the scam first surfaced involving her and top political leaders as that involved her privacy.

Ms. Saritha asked the commission that since she has some urgent work, she may be allowed to leave and she would appear again on Monday.

The Kerala government’s counsel objected to this, stating that she was in a hurry to go only to brief the media and put the government in trouble by airing these allegations.

But the commission allowed Ms. Saritha to return on Monday and Tuesday for her further deposition.

Ms. Saritha’s deposition comes at a time when a petition filed by the chief minister and state Power Minister Aryadan Mohammed is coming up before the Kerala High Court, challenging the Thrissur Vigilance court directive to register an FIR against them for accepting bribes from her.

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Solar scam: vigilance court orders registration of FIR against Chandy

The Enquiry Commission & Special Judge Vigilance Court, Thrissur, Kerala, has directed the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) to file FIR against Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Power Minister Aryadan Mohammed in connection with the disclosures of solar scam accused Saritha S. Nair, regarding the bribes she is said to have paid to them through their aides.

This has virtually plunged the United Democratic Front (UDF) government into a major crisis, as the Thursday morning directive posed a question mark on the Chief Minister’s continuation in office, especially in the context of the precedent set by his former Cabinet colleague K. Babu who put in his papers when the same court asked the VACB to file an FIR in the bar bribery case.

The court has asked the VACB to file or a report on February 14 on a petition filed by a socialist activist P.D. Joseph demanding the court’s intervention on the basis of the disclosures of Ms. Saritha.

Saritha reveals more names

In the meantime, Ms. Saritha continued with her disclosures against the Chief Minister for the second day, naming some of his close aides such as Thampanoor Ravi and Benny Behanan, MLA, for allegedly trying to influence her.

The developments also triggered a major agitation by the Democratic Youth Federation of India, youth wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Activists of the DYFI laid a siege to State Secretariat, forcing the police to resort to caning and use of teargas. Activists also tried to block the Chief Minister’s programmes in Kozhikode and Malappuram.

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Solar scam: Chandy took Rs. 1.90 crore in bribe, claims Saritha

In another dramatic twist to the solar scam, the accused, Saritha S. Nair, deposed before the judicial panel on Wednesday that she had bribed Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Power Minister Aryadan Mohammed on the assurance that they would facilitate government support for her solar projects.

Ms. Nair told the G. Sivarajan Commission that she had handed over Rs. 1.90 crore to Thomas Kuruvila, a close aide of the Chief Minister, in New Delhi. The bribe was paid in two instalments as directed by Jikkumon Jacob, then Additional Private Secretary to the Chief Minister, for facilitating the mega solar power projects of Solar, the company in which she was a director.

She said she had met the Chief Minister first in June 2011 at his office. The CM, she said, suggested a floating power station like the one set up in the Banasurasagar Dam in Wayanad. She claimed that the Chief Minister then introduced her to Power Minister Aryadan Mohammed. According to her, it was the Chief Minister who asked her to meet Thomas Kuruvila. The meeting took place on December 27, 2012, at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi, when he was about to leave for the airport after attending a meeting of the National Development Council. The bag containing Rs. 1.10 crore was handed over to Kuruvila in the parking area of a mall at Chandni Chowk. Later, according to her, Kuruvila collected Rs. 80 lakh more from her home at Edapazhanji in Thiruvananthapuram.

Ms. Nair said she had appraised the Chief Minister of all these financial transactions, and the Chief Minister had offered all help to push the projects. The CM, she claimed, had offered to allow government holdings on lease for the projects.

According to her, it was on July 9, 2012 that she, along with the Mallelil Sreedharan Nair, a businessman, met the Chief Minister at his office at the government secretariat. It was after communicating the details on the phone that the meeting was fixed. The Chief Minister assured them that the government holdings would be given on lease for the projects. He also offered single window clearance and subsidies for the projects. Mr. Nair offered to invest in the projects after the assurance from the Chief Minister.

According to her, the Chief Minister asked her to meet Abbas, the private secretary of Industries Minister P.K. Kunjalikutty. Mr. Abbas promised her to identify the holdings in a couple of days, she said.

Regarding her meetings with the Power Minister, she said she met the Power Minister at his official residence. It was his personal assistant Keshavan who suggested that bribes be paid for taking the projects further. Though he demanded Rs. 2 crore, he settled for Rs. 1 crore after negotiations, and Rs. 25 lakh was paid as the first instalment at Manmohan Banglow, his official residence. Though an additional Rs. 15 lakh was paid to the Minister later, he didn’t render any help, and he didn’t return the money, despite her repeated demands.

It was Kuruvila who facilitated the meeting with the Chief Minister outside Vigyan Bhavan, Ms. Nair said.

The panel will continue its examination of Ms. Nair on Thursday.

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