Former chief secretary S M Vijayanand points out Jacob Thomas lapses'

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former chief secretary S.M. Vijayanand has submitted a report against former Vigilance director Jacob Thomas pointing out serious lapses in the purchase of land in Tamil Nadu and procurement of dredgers while he was port director. Mr Vijayanand,  who retired from service on Friday,  submitted the report about 10 days ago following a communication from the Advocate-General seeking the details of the allegations against  Mr Jacob Thomas. The VACB director proceeded on leave on Friday following a directive from the government.

The chief secretary’s stand will be crucial when the cases come before the High Court. When contacted, Mr Vijayanand said it was not a special report but a statement of facts filed in connection with the matters pending before the court. Sources said that the report referred to Mr Jacob Thomas’s  undisclosed property of about 50 acres of land in Tamil Nadu. The same property figured in his disclosure of assets for 2002 and 2003 after the land was purchased.  However, the latest disclosure of assets early this year did not mention any such property.

As per all-India Service Conduct Rules, the  details of all immovable properties of officers whether owned, acquired or leased by them should be submitted to the government .The serious lapses in purchasing dredgers was also pointed out by the finance inspection wing. It may be recalled that additional chief secretary (finance) K.M. Abraham had unearthed 28 irregularities prima facie committed by  Mr Jacob Thomas  in connection with purchase of cutter suction dredger during the latter’s tenure as ports director.

  Mr Thomas  was even found guilty of various offences, including criminal conspiracy, forgery and corruption, besides causing pecuniary loss of Rs. 14.96 crore to the state exchequer and pecuniary advantage of Rs. 2.67 crore to the foreign firm.  The 250-odd page inspection report by Mr. Abraham, which was made public under the Right to Information Act, found that  Mr Jacob Thomas while serving as ports director, had awarded the purchase of dredger to a foreign firm IHC Merwede, overlooking and deliberately avoiding the lowest tender quoted by public sector firm BEML during 2011-12.