Director of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) Jacob Thomas has informed the government that the Finance Department is working overtime with the “malicious objective of wreaking vengeance” on him.
In his letter to Chief Secretary S.M. Vijayanand, dated December 8, 2016, Mr. Thomas has sought “remedial action” against Principal Secretary, Finance, K.M. Abraham.
He said Mr. Abraham had “perceived a problem” ever since the VACB registered cases against former Finance Minister K.M. Mani.
The cases related to the period when Mr. Abraham had served under Mr. Mani as Finance Secretary. They included charges of giving tax reprieves to large-scale poultry farmers, makers of cosmetics, and battery manufacturers.
A VACB official said Mr. Thomas reckoned that Mr. Abraham feared the investigations would reach his doorstep. Hence, Mr. Abraham had “unleashed” the Financial Inspection Wing (FIW) under him to “frame” Mr. Thomas “somehow” for his administrative actions as the Director, Ports Department.
In his letter, Mr. Thomas accuses Mr. Abraham of “abuse of power, reprisal action, wreaking vengeance, and misuse of influence and official position”.
He noted that the VACB had registered a case (VC 8/2016/EKM) in which Mr. Abraham has been named as accused. (The case related to suspected anomalies in a drinking water project.) The VACB had initiated two other inquiries against Mr. Abraham in October on the basis of complaints against him in different courts.
The letter was one of the three missives from Mr. Thomas to the government in the past one week. The communications were forwarded to the government through Additional Chief Secretary, Home and Vigilance, Nalini Netto.
