In a huge setback for Kerala’s Congress-led ruling UDF on the eve of the crucial civic poll, a Vigilance court on Thursday ordered further probe into the infamous bar bribery scandal involving State Finance and law Minister KM Mani by refusing to accept the report of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) which sought to exonerate him citing lack of evidence.
Observing that the allegation of bribery against Mani was prima facie maintainable, the court said that the final report of the VACB - prepared on the basis of instruction from its Director - which sought permission to close the case was not acceptable and the matter was remitted back to the investigating officer of the agency for further investigation.
Immediately after the court issued the order, Mani announced his resolve not to resign saying, “There is no such precedent in the UDF” while VACB Director Vinson M Paul, on whose direction the investigating officer had prepared the report which sought to exonerate the Minister, wrote a letter to the Government expressing his wish to step down.
Mani, chairman of the Kerala Congress (M), third biggest constituent of the UDF, is accused of demanding Rs 5 crore from the State’s bar owners and taking Rs 1 crore of it as bribe for helping them to get licences renewed for 418 bars which had been closed down for lack of required facilities. However, Mani has consistently rejected the charge.
Even as the Opposition lDF raised the demand for Mani’s immediate resignation following the court order, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, the Congress and other parties in the UDF came out in defence of the Finance Minister. “There is nothing extraordinary in the order. It is only part of the legal process,” he told newsmen in Thiruvananthapuram.
The bar bribery scandal had erupted a year ago on October 31, 2014 when Biju Ramesh, working president of the Kerala Bar Hotels’ Association, alleged that Mani had taken Rs1 crore bribe from bar owners. However, Mani and his party rejected the charge and said it was part of a conspiracy hatched probably within the ruling coalition itself against him.
On Thursday, Inquiry Commissioner and Special Judge John K Illikkadan of the Special Vigilance Court in Thiruvananthapuram, who refused to accept the report which exonerated Mani, observed that there were evidences that justified recommendation of initiation of a case against him and that the charges against him were prima facie maintainable.
While taking up nine petitions seeking follow-up probe into the bar bribery scandal, the judge observed that the act of intervention by the Vigilance Director in the factual report prepared by the investigating officer, Superintendent of Police (Vigilance) R Sukesan, was wrong. He also wanted Sukesan to carry out the follow-up probe. The court expressed satisfaction in the investigation carried out by him.
Sukesan’s factual report had recommended prosecution proceedings against Mani but he had filed the final probe report in the court saying that no such action was needed because of lack of evidences due to the intervention by the agency’s director who had reached that conclusion on the basis of legal advices taken from private lawyers.
The court observed that there was prima facie evidence to suggest that Mani had taken bribe from the bar owners at their meetings at his residence in Pala, Kottayam in March and April last year. Judge Illikkadan stated that the findings of and documents accessed by the investigating officer supported this observation.
“If even a speck of self-esteem has left in Mani, he should resign immediately,” said Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan even as his party demanded the resignation of not just Mani but of the entire UDF Government. “Mani should resign now. If he is not ready to quit, the people of Kerala will have to kick him out,” said CPI legislator VS Sunilkumar.
However, Congress leaders seemed more concerned about the impact the court order might have on the UDF’s prospects in the civic poll to be held within a week than the seriousness of the issue itself. State Congress president VM Sudheeran refused to comment on the development but claimed that it would have no effect on the UDF’s possibilities in the local bodies election.