Kerala secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Pinarayi Vijayan, arraigned as an accused in a graft case relating to awarding of contract to Canadian firm SNC-Lavalin during his tenure as Electricity Minister in 1998, will appear before a CBI special court here on Wednesday, said his counsel and the former Advocate-General, M.K. Damodaran.
The CBI had filed a charge sheet listing Mr. Vijayan as the seventh accused in the case relating to alleged corruption in the award of contract to SNC Lavalin for renovation of three hydel projects in 1998.
Mr. Vijayan had earlier sought exemption from appearing before the court on September 24 on medical grounds. The CBI court had on June 23 issued summons to all the nine accused, including Mr. Vijayan, in the case to appear before the court on September 24.
Lavalin official Claus Trendl and the Lavalin company have not accepted the summons.
Five accused — the former principal secretary (Power), K. Mohanachandran; the former KSEB chairmen, R. Sivadasan and Siddharta Menon; the former chief engineer (Generation), Kasturiranga Iyer; and the former joint secretary (Power), A. Francis — were earlier granted bail on a bond of Rs.2 lakh and two sureties for a like amount.
