The Kerala Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has given a clean chit to State Finance and law Minister KM Mani in the infamous bar bribery scam pertaining to the charge that he had taken `1 crore as bribe from the State’s bar owners.
In the final report filed in the Special Vigilance Court in Thiruvananthapuram the other day at the end of a seven-month-long probe, Superintendent of Police (Vigilance) R Sukesan who headed the investigation team said that there was no evidence to establish that Mani had demanded bribe or had taken it as alleged by whistleblower-bar owner Biju Ramesh.
The report sought court’s permission to end the investigation as sufficient evidence warranting further probe was not available. The agency had begun the probe on December 10 by registering an FIR naming Mani as the accused on the basis of the findings of its own “quick verification” into the charge that he had taken the bribe.
However, Sukesan, who had carried out the probe under immense political pressure as per his own admission found on a sting audio tape, stated in the 54-page report that there was circumstantial and scientific evidence to establish that bar owners’ representatives had reached the Minister’s residences in Pala in Kottayam district and Thiruvananthapuram with money.
The Opposition alleged that the Vigilance had prepared the report under pressure from the Government. State Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala had on June 27 admitted through a Facebook post that he had come under immense pressure from the Congress and the ruling UDF over the Vigilance probe into the bar bribery scam.
The agency’s report said that leaders of the Kerala Bar Hotels’ Association had collected large sums of money from its members, which according to Biju Ramesh was for giving bribe to Mani. However, no conclusion could be drawn that Mani had taken the money, especially as the persons who were alleged to have given money to him had denied it during questioning, it said.
According to observers, the Vigilance’s report suggests that it had not done any serious investigation on its own but had only done a verification of the evidence provided by Biju Ramesh and others. It is also alleged that the Vigilance has failed to mention several important aspects of the case, which could go against Mani’s interests, in its report.
The agency said in the report that there were contradictions in the statements of Biju Ramesh’s driver Ambili, the only eyewitness in the case, and the result of the polygraph procedure on him. However, it has not termed as wrong Ambili’s statement that he had seen Mani accepting money from D Rajkumar Unni, president of the bar owners’ association.
The bar bribery scam erupted in the State trapping the UDF Government in a serious credibility crisis with Biju Ramesh disclosing on October 31 last that Minister Mani, also chairman of the Kerala Congress (M), third biggest UDF constituent, had taken `1 crore as bribe by promising help to the bar owners in getting licences renewed for their bars closed for lack of facilities.
The report categorically stated that Mani had not indulged in corruption nor had he misused his official position. The decision to open the bars in the State was taken collectively by the Cabinet and there was nothing to suggest that the Minister had done anything in the bar owners’ favour as per the Cabinet records, the agency said.
Several legal experts opined that the Vigilance had acted smartly in preparing the final report. “On the one hand it has satisfied the Government by giving a clean chit to the Minister but there are enough points in the report which could form solid bases for further legal proceedings,” said a senior lawyer of the Kerala High Court.