CBI clean chit to Karthikeyan, Pinarayi

Giving a clean chit to Assembly Speaker and  former Power Minister G Karthikeyan in the SNC Lavalin case, a further investigation conducted by the CBI has found nothing incriminating to prove that CPM state secretary and former Power Minister Pinarayi Vijayan  made financial gains in the controversial scam. A report to this effect was submitted to the CBI court here on Monday.
However, the original SNC Lavalin case, suspectedly involving a loss of Rs 374.5  crore to the state exchequer over allegations that  undue favour was shown to the Canadian company  in the matter of awarding  renovation and modernisation contracts of Pallivasal, Sengulam and Panniar hydro-electric projects, is still pending. The court which postponed the case to April 10, 2012, has also sent notices to seven of the accused, including Pinarayi Vijayan, the seventh accused. A warrant against  Klaus Triendl, former vice-president of SNC Lavalin and a summons to  SNC Lavalin Company, the ninth accused, which were returned unaddressed earlier, was reissued.

The CBI probed the role of  Karthikeyan, who held the Power portfolio at the time of signing of the consultancy contract, and former KSEB member  R Gopalakrishnan in detail and came to the conclusion that  further investigation could not  establish criminal intention or overt acts in respect of signing of  the Memorandum of Understanding on  August 10, 1995  and  further to it the consultancy contracts on May 24,1996.
The CBI report states that ‘’further investigation could not substantiate the allegations  raised by T P Nandakumar and V Deepak Kumar against Dileep Rahulan, former director  of SNC Lavalin, a signatory to  the MoU, and contracts entered into between KSEB officials and SNC Lavalin,  Pinarayi Vijayan and G Karthikeyan and their alleged nexus’’.
The crux of  Nandakumar’s  allegations was that there was an unholy nexus between Pinarayi and Dileep Rahulan, a UAE-based businessman.
“Nandakumar could not furnish any material evidence to support the allegations that he had raised in his petition,’’ states the Further Investigation  Report, a copy of which is with Express.
The CBI investigation also dismisses Deepak Kumar’s allegations that he was a witness to Pinarayi Vijayan receiving  `2 crore  from Dileep  Rahulan in May 1996.
That G Karthikeyan  received  `25 lakh when he was a minister, which was another claim, was also rejected  by the CBI for lack of evidence.