An anti-corruption court here has said that it is ‘not inclined to accept’ the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau’s (VACB) report that no wrongful gain is obtained by the persons suspected of corruption in the setting up of an effluent treatment plant at Travancore Titanium Products (TTP) in 2006.
Brushing aside its contention that there was no irregularity, corruption or criminal intention (to accept any “kickback”) in the execution of the multi-crore project, the court on Thursday ordered the agency to register a First Information Report (FIR) “on the basis of the allegations levelled” separately by three petitioners.
Vigilance Inquiry Commissioner and Special Judge John K. Illikadan’s 29 page order was also a damning indictment of the VACB’s handling of the case.
The agency had told the court that though Rs.103.55 crore was spent on the plant as on December 30, 2012, “so far nothing has come of it.” The “loss” had occurred because the project proposal was a failure and not because of any hidden criminal intent for undue gain. Hence, there was no scope for an anti-corruption probe.
The judge said that, on the face of it, it appeared that the TTP management had not considered the expert committee reports on the proposal of the private firm contracted to execute the project. The proposal was not subjected to any feasibility study. Hence, whether there was any “ulterior motive” behind the decision required to “be carefully probed into,” he said. The judge did not order that any respondent be included in the FIR or excluded from it. But since the petitioners had named Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, and Public Works Minister V.K. Ebrahim Kunju as respondents, it entailed that they were likely to be named in the document.
