Friday, September 16, 2011: Finance Minister K.M Mani today came out in support of government Chief Whip P C George, embroiled in a controversy over his letter to the President and Supreme Court Chief Justice against the vigilance judge probing the 1992 palmolein import case. “There was nothing unusual in the letter.George has himself said he wrote the letters as a citizen and not as chief whip,” Mani, also founder leader of Kerala Congress(M), an ally of the ruling UDF, told reporters here on his return from abroad. He said KC(M) had no role in George sending the letter.
To another query, Mani said it was not possible to state whether the letter amounts to ”contempt of court”. George in a complaint to the President and Supreme Court Chief Justice, had stated the Court hearing the case has no inherent jurisdiction to order reinvestigation as there was no pending petition on Aug 8 when it ordered a further probe.
The only intention was to make Oommen Chandy, the then Finance Minister, an accused in the case, he had said in the complaint sent on September 6. George said the judge has no right to continue in office and wanted authorities to remove him from the post. The Vigilance Court had on Aug 8 directed the Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau to file a report by November 10.
Chandy and UDF have distanced themselves from the letter, saying George has done it in his individual capacity. The case pertains to palmolein import from Malaysia,causing Rs 2.32 crore loss to the state exchequer. Late Congress leader K Karunakaran was Chief Minister at that time.
No comments:
Post a Comment