Thiruvananthapuram: Former chief minister Oommen Chandy has said that he would challenge the Bengaluru court order asking him and five others to pay over Rs 1.60 crore within one month to a businessman M.K. Kuruvila in connection with the solar issue. Mr Chandy told reporters here on Friday that he had not got the summons from the court. “There was a small lapse from my part. I didn’t take the case seriously. Nowhere in the complaint or in the FIR is it mentioned that I had a role in the scam,” Mr Chandy claimed.
“I was very thorough with the facts relating to the case since 2012. That was why I did not take the court procedures seriously. This backfired,” Mr Chandy said. “The case was filed on March 23, 2015 and it was dismissed on April 30 due to non-payment of fees. When the case was again submitted after paying the fees on March 19, 2016, I was not intimated of the developments. As per the documents, I was served a summons on March 19 when the case was heard. However, I got it only on April 24. The case was then deferred to June 30. As the co-accused did not accept the summons, the matter was advertised by the complainant in Deshabhimani Kochi edition on May 5,” he said.
When the case again came up for hearing on September 30, the advocate asked for more time to submit further documents. This request was dismissed by the court citing technical reasons. This helped the complainant, he said. In the complaint, Mr Chandy and others were accused of taking money by offering South Korean technical knowledge and central government subsidy for a solar project to the complainant.
