The VACB on Monday gave a third successive reprieve to former Finance Minister K.M. Mani in the bar bribery case. The agency told a court here that it had no evidence to indict the Kerala Congress (M) leader on suspicion of having demanded and accepted bribes from the Kerala Bar Hotel Association for the restoration of invalidated two-star bar licences in 2014. In the past four years, the VACB, under two different governments and three separate directors, had reiterated Mr. Mani's innocence in court.
The VACB submitted its final report in a sealed cover to Inquiry Commissioner and Special Judge, Vigilance, D. Ajith Kumar. Its contents remained mostly secret for now.
However, officials said the agency had found no evidence to prove that Mr. Mani had demanded bribe. Moreover, there was no case the bar hoteliers had got a favourable decision in reciprocation for the alleged bribe.
There was no merit in the accusation that Mr. Mani had a corrupt motive in deferring the Cabinet’s decision on the renewal of non-standard bar licences from March 26 to April 2, 2014. The postponement was as per rules of business to get the Law Department’s opinion.
Investigators said the KBHA had collected money from its members to lobby for reinstating the lost bar licences. But, there was no evidence to suggest the organisation paid the money to Mr. Mani. They also discredited the audio recordings submitted as proof stating the tampered versions had no evidentiary value.
The cell phone location data of the alleged bribe givers, which showed few of them in the vicinity of Mr. Mani’s residences on different days, was not sufficient to prove the crime.
In the past two instances, the court had outrightly rejected the agency’s findings. Instead, it ordered further inquiries. The court’s decisions had prompted the voluntary exit of one director and the replacement of another.
They had also exposed the rift between the initial investigation team, which felt that they should book Mr. Mani for corruption, and their supervisors who thought otherwise.
The latest report has set the stage for a fresh round of high-profile legal wrangling that could deny the embattled Mr. Mani a final reprieve anytime soon.
Former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Aam Aadmi Party have announced that they would oppose the report in court and simultaneously press for a CBI inquiry.
The controversy had sparked off a political storm that cost Mr. Mani his Cabinet berth and rocked the Oommen Chandy government in the run-up to the Assembly elections in 2016.
It had also prompted veteran politician to edge away from the UDF and sit as an independent block in the Assembly.
