Fight against KSCDC corruption still on

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: For Kadakampally Manoj, 40, former Kollam secretary of INTUC, the eight-year-old battle against the officials of Kerala State Cashew Development Corporat-ion is only 75 per cent complete. It was Mr Manoj of Vadakkevila, Kollam, who exposed the Rs 600-crore corruption in the KSCDC headed by INTUC president R. Chandrasekharan and managing director K.A. Retheesh, leading to the Kerala High Court ordering a CBI inquiry into the scam.

Son of the late M. Kuttappan, supervisor at a cashew factory and K. Bhavani, cashew worker, Manoj could not complete his pre-degree as he had nine siblings. But he is now privately pursuing BA in Politics from Calicut University.

He says that if not for Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and KPCC president V. M. Sudheeran, his fight against the rot in KSCDC would not have been successful. Many times he received threats from KSCDC officials. Mr Retheesh had pleaded with him not to tarnish his image, but his battle was never personal.

DC was the first to report on the graft char-ges against Mr Chandra-sekharan raised by Mr Manoj way back in August 2012 when the public sector restructuring and audit board recommended to the government that Mr Retheesh be kept out and all records be made available to the investigating agencies, which fell on deaf ears.

“It was V.P. Joy, principal secretary (finance) who first recommended an inquiry against the KSCDC officials during 2011-12. Later, V. Soma-sundaran, principal secretary (industries) acted as per the report from the restructuring and audit board. But within a month, he was shifted to finance and the inspection wing there recommended action against Mr Ratheesh. When Mr Somasundaran sought further inquiry, it did not meet the desired results which prompted me to move the High Court in 2014,” he told DC.

“Though the High Court has ordered a CBI probe into the scam, my battle is only 75 per cent complete. When the CBI probe happens, I have to see whether the probe is being conducted in the right direction. I will fight against corruption and other nefarious activities of politicians,” he added.