In a setback to Kerala’s beleaguered Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in the sensational palm oil import case ahead of the crucial Assembly polls, the Special Vigilance Court in Thrissur on Tuesday observed that he, as then Finance Minister, had clear knowledge about the controversial import deal of 1991-92 and that there was no point in putting the blame on officials.
Considering the discharge petitions filed by two former bureaucrats who were named as accused in the palm oil import case, Special Vigilance Judge SS Vassan said that Chandy had seen the file regarding the deal. The then additional chief secretary had written on the file of the Cabinet decision on the import that the Finance Minister should see it, the court observed.
Discharging former chief secretary S Padmakumar and former additional chief secretary Zacharia Mathew, respectively third and fourth accused in the case which had cost PJ Thomas his job of Central Vigilance Commissioner a few years ago, the judge said there was no point in blaming the officials for the policy decisions taken by the State Cabinet.
The case, pertaining to the import of 32,000 tonnes of palm oil through a Malaysian company at inflated rates in 1991-92 causing a loss of Rs 2.32 crore to the Exchequer, has been dogging Chandy since August, 2011 when a Vigilance court in Thiruvananthapuram ordered a probe into his alleged role in it. Chandy had relinquished the Vigilance portfolio following the order.
The ruling UDF had unleashed a campaign against the Special Vigilance judge who ordered the probe. Then Government chief whip PC George wrote letters to the President, Chief Justice and others calling for executive action against the judge, who later recused himself from hearing the case. A Vigilance probe had later exonerated Chandy who was originally listed as 23rd witness.
On Tuesday, the Thrissur Vigilance court said that then Additional Chief Secretary Zacharia Mathew had clearly written on the concerned Cabinet file that it was being sent for the consideration of the Finance Minister, Chandy. The court pointed out that government officials had no choice but to implement the Cabinet’s policy decisions.
Judge Vassan discharged Padmakumar and Mathew from the case by accepting their argument that that they had no role in the criminal conspiracy behind the deal. They had filed the petitions in 2010. The discharge petitions of two other accused, Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson and former Food minister TH Musthaffa of the Congress, had been rejected by the court earlier.
Chandy had till 2005 held that he had not seen the file concerning the irregular import of palm oil when he was Finance minister a quarter century back. However, in 2005 when he was chief minister, he claimed that he knew everything about the deal and that there was nothing wrong in it following which the Opposition left demanded a probe into his involvement.
With the exemption of Padmakumar and Mathew, the path for the trial in the palm oil case has been cleared, bringing more trouble for Chandy, his Government and the Congress party, already beleaguered by the infamous bar bribery and solar scams, ahead of the crucial Assembly polls to be held before the second week of May.
The controversial palm oil import had taken place when Congress leader K Karunakaran was chief minister and he was listed as first accused in the case. His name was dropped after his death in 2010. Presently, there are five accused in the case, including Jiji Thomson and Musthaffa.
Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan said that the court’s observation was a slap across the face of the Chandy regime while Deputy Opposition leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan demanded naming of the Chief Minister as an accused in the case. “We have been seeing such court references coming out of the courts frequently but Chandy is not bothered,” he said.