Terming the charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the SNC-Lavalin case as a “fancy-sounded” one, senior counsel Harish Salve on Friday submitted before the High Court that Mr. Vijayan had not obtained any undue gain and that there was nothing in the charge-sheet to prove a conspiracy against him.
Mr. Salve made the submission during the hearing on a revision petition filed by the CBI challenging the Thiruvanathapuram CBI Special Court's verdict discharging Mr. Vijayan and six others from the case.
Mr. Vijayan had not personally benefited by the execution of the contract. In fact, the State was benefited by the contract.
The allegation that Mr. Vijayan had taken special interest towards the deal was baseless, Mr. Salve argued.
Documents
The documents produced by the CBI revealed that there was no conspiracy existing at the time of entering into a memorandum of understanding.
No element of cheating was unearthed in the case from the beginning. Therefore, Mr. Vijayan joining in such a non-existing conspiracy subsequently did not arise, he argued.
He pointed out that the original contract was entered into between the Kerala State Electricity Board and SNC-Lavalin in August 1995 when the late G. Kathikeyan was the Power Minister.
The CBI had exonerated him from the case.
He said the allegation of violation of the procedure in awarding the contract was a cooked-up one.
He pointed out that it was V. Rajagopal, former chairman of the KSEB, who had advised the government to sign the contract.
It was approved by the Cabinet.
Illegal decision
Had the decision been illegal, then the Cabinet Secretary, Finance Minister and Chief Minister should have been arraigned as accused in the case.
The setting up of the Malabar Cancer Centre at Thalassery was not part of the original contract.
The contract for the renovation project was signed by the then KSEB chairman.
Offer
The offer to provide fund for setting up the cancer centre was really a social venture and not a commercial one.
The CBI allegation that the fact of seeking ex-post factor approval of the supply contract was suppressed in the note given at the Cabinet meeting was designed to frame certain people, he argued
The court will now hear the arguments of the CBI on March 27.
