THRISSUR: In a setback to the Congress-led UDF government in Kerala, vigilance court here disallowed the government from withdrawing the politically sensitive palmolein import graft case dating to 1992 when late Congress veteran K Karunakaran was chief minister.
Dismissing the government's petition, Judge K Haripal held that withdrawal of the case was against public interest.
The legal advisor who filed the plea is not in charge of the case. The court asked why the government, who opposed former food and civil supplies minister T H Mustafa’s removal petition, is seeking the withdrawal of the case. The court directed to continue legal steps against the seven accused in the case. Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan and V S Sunil Kumar MLA had filed pleas urging not to withdraw the case.
The scam caused a loss of more than 2.32 cores to the exchequer by importing 15,000 tonnes of palmolein from Power and Energy Limited, a Malaysian Company in 1991–92 during the tenure of K Karunakaran, the then chief minister.
The scam was first brought to light officially by a report of the Accountant General in July 1993, a Comptroller and Auditor General Report in February 1994, and subsequently by a report of the Public Undertakings Committee of the Kerala Legislative Assembly in March 1996. The investigation was completed in 2001 and the investigation report was submitted at the vigilance court in 2003.
Meantime, the vigilance court in Thiruvananthapuram ordered to probe the role of Oommen Chandy, who was the then finance minister. When it sparked a controversy, the judge withdrew and the case was transferred to Thrissur Vigilance Court. The further investigation report stating that Chandy has no role in the deal in 2012 was submitted to the court.
Former food and civil supplies minister T H Musthafa, former chief secretary S Padmakumar (who, along with Karunakaran, allegedly met the Singapore-based company representative in New Delhi and agreed informally on the deal as early as October 1991), former additional chief secretary Zacharia Mathew, former managing director of the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation Jiji Thomson, director of Mala Export Corporation V Sadasivan, director of P&E Pvt. Ltd Sivaramakrishnan, and P J Thomas, secretary of food & civil supplies at that time are the accused in the case.
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