Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau to book Chief Minister in TTP case
29 Aug 2014 3:31 AM GMT
Oommen Chandy and two of his cabinet colleagues weretuning money to install hazardous waste treatment plant
Kerala chief minister Oommen Chand
Thiruvananthapuram: In a major embarrassment to chief minister Oommen Chandy and two of his cabinet colleagues, a court here has ordered the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) to register a case against the chief minister and others in connection with the alleged corruption at the Travancore Titanium Products (TTP) here.
Home minister Ramesh Chennithala and PWD Minister V.K. Ibrahim Kunju are the others implicated in the case involving corruption to the tune of Rs 256 crore in installing hazardous waste treatment plant at the TTP. The Inquiry Commissioner and Special Court (Vigilance) here ordered further investigation after rejecting a report of the VACB that there was no corruption involved. The alleged corruption took place during the term of the previous UDF government led by Mr. Chandy. Mr. Kunju was the then Industry Minister. Mr. Chennithala who was the then KPCC president allegedly influenced the then Health Minister K.K. Ramachandran who was in charge of Pollution Control Board.
The others listed as accused in the petition include former industry secretary T. Balakrishnan, TTP former managing director Eapen Joseph, Grintex Enterprises proprietor Rajeev, TTP former chief engineer N. Gangadharan and officials of Mecon India Limited and Chematur Ecoplanning in Finland. The charges include causing pecuniary loss to government and conspiracy.The petition was filed by Manacaud Suresh, an employees’ union leader at TTP, through advocate Chandrasekhar. A VACB team had recorded Mr. Chandy’s statement in connection with the case in February 2013.
The allegation is that the work for installation of the hazardous waste treatment plant was awarded to the private firm before obtaining cabinet clearance. The officials who proposed the project themselves had later cleared it. The VACB initiated a preliminary inquiry in 2006 and recently filed a report stating '80 crore loss though no one could be held liable.The VACB also suggested that the loss to the exchequer could be recovered by selling the machinery. judge John Illikadan quashed the report and ordered further probe by registering a case. The court also directed that the investigation should be completed without delay and the progress of the probe should be informed to the court every four months.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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