THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A vigilance special court here has ordered a preliminary inquiry into nepotism charges against former chief minister Oommen Chandy, five former ministers, one Congress MLA and two former UDF MLAs. The Enquiry Comm-issioner and Special Court (Vigilance) ordered the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau to conduct the inquiry and file a report before February 6. Based on the findings, a decision on whether to register a case or not would be decided.
The others to face the probe are former food minister Anoop Jacob, health minister V.S. Sivakumar, former scheduled tribe welfare minister P.K. Jayalekhsmi, former culture minister K.C. Joseph, former finance minister K.M. Mani, Congress MLA of Kovalam M. Vincent, former Congress MLA R. Selvaraj and former IUML MLA Ummer Master. The petition was filed by A.H. Hafees, state general secretary of Kerala Congress (Scaria Thomas) faction.
The appointments pertaining to the allegations were that of K.M. Mani's son-in-law M.D. Joseph as adviser to former labour minister Shibu Baby John, Anoop Jacob's wife Anila as assistant director at Institute of Languages, Anoop Jacob's sister Ambili Jacob as marketing manager of Kerala State IT Infrastructure, former speaker G. Karthikeyan's wife M.T. Sulekha as director of Encyclopaedic Publications, Oommen Chandy's relative Kunju Elambally as chairman of cooperative service examination board, Sivakumar's brother V.S. Jayakumar as Sabarimala executive officer, Vincent's wife Mary Subha at Youth Welfare Board, Jayalekshmi's gunman David's wife Suja G.L. at Youth Welfare Board, Selvaraj's daughter as assistant manager at Kerala State Warehousing Corporation and Ummer Master's son-in-law K.P. Abdul Jaleel as director of State Council for Open and Lifelong Education.
The court initially rejected the petition citing lack of evidence. Subsequently the petitioner submitted supporting documents of the appointments. During the hearing on the petition, the VACB had informed that probes pertaining to appointment of Anoop Jacob’s wife and sister were already progressing.
