In a huge legal and political victory for Kerala’s Marxist Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the High Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court order discharging him in the sensational Rs 374.5-crore SNC lavalin corruption case, saying that the CBI, which probed the scandal, had wrongly picked him and there was no case against him prima facie.
Justice P Ubaid of the High Court, who also upheld the discharge of two others in the case, rejected the CBI’s argument that their full-fledged trial was inevitable to prove the conspiracy behind the corrupt deal with Canadian company, SNC lavalin. The verdict is certain to make Pinarayi stronger in the Government and his party, the CPI(M), say observers.
However, three others named as accused could be put to trial, the judge ruled. Also, the High Court has not ruled out corruption in the deal but this had been committed in the level of the officials. The CBI is expected to appeal against the High Court verdict.
“This verdict, like the earlier developments in this case, has once again proved that truth triumphs ultimately,” said Pinarayi, a Politbureau member of the CPI(M), while responding to the High Court verdict that freed him, at least temporarily, from the clutches of the 20-year-old corruption case that had acted as a big hurdle in his political career several times.
The High Court pronounced its order on a revision petition filed by the CBI challenging the discharge of Pinarayi and six others in the corruption case by trial court, the Special CBI Court in Thiruvananthapuram, on November 5, 2013. Justice Ubaid said there was no reason to believe that Pinarayi had entered into any
conspiracy.
The case pertained to the alleged corruption in the Rs 374.5-crore agreement between the Kerala State Electricity Board and the Canadian utility giant, SNC lavalin, for the repair and renovation of the Pallivasal, Senkulam and Panniyar hydel power projects. The agreement was finalised when Pinarayi was the State Power Minister between 1996 and 1998.
The then Congress-led UDF Government had in 2006 had proposed a CBI probe into the deal – which was ratified by the High Court later – after the CAG found that the agreement had failed to deliver what was intended of that and had in effect led to the loss of the whole contract amount to the Exchequer.
Agreeing with the argument of senior lawyer Harish Salve, who appeared for the Chief Minister, that the CBI had adopted a “pick and choose” method to make out a case against Pinarayi, Justice Ubaid indicated that the agency had been hunting him down and had selected the accused as per its preferences. Pinarayi was seventh accused as per CBI’s chargesheet in the trial court.
Pointing out that even the CBI had not found anything to prove that Pinarayi had made any monetary benefit out of the deal with the Canadian company, the court observed that the State had had several Power Ministers during the deal period but the CBI had named Pinarayi, who had served in that capacity for a very short time, alone as accused.
The others whose discharge from the case was upheld by the High Court are first accused K Mohanachadran Nair, former KSEB member, and eighth accused A Francis, for joint secretary, Department of Power. Those who could be put to trial, as per the order, are a former chairman, a former member and a former chief engineer of the KSEB.
“I am happy that the High Court has now concluded what we have been saying from the very beginning: That there was political conspiracy behind the allegations against me… The mysterious forcers that have been trying to hunt me down should be feeling disappointed now,” the Chief Minister told newsmen.
In Delhi, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechuri said, “We welcome the High Court order. It has vindicated our stand that this case was politically motivated. We had said we would fight it legally and politically. We fought it legally and politically and we have won that battle.”
State BJP president Kummanam Rajasekharan pointed out that since the court had not ruled out corruption in the SNC lavalin deal, the moral responsibility would rest on Pinarayi, who was Power Minister then. Detailed arguments had not yet taken place in this case and therefore the CBI should go for appeal, he said.