A special court here on Saturday heard that the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) required more time to finalise its preliminary inquiry against former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and five of his Cabinet colleagues on the suspicion of having favoured relatives and friends in appointments to top posts in statutory corporations and State-controlled entities during the tenure of the previous United Democratic Front (UDF) Government.
Legal advisor, VACB, C.C. Augustine, told The Hindu that the probe was almost complete but certain loose ends required to be tied up. He dispelled certain media reports that the VACB had given a clean chit to the UDF Ministers. Such matters would be revealed in court, he said.
Inquiry Commissioner and Special Judge, Vigilance, A. Badharudeen had earlier directed the VACB to state whether the allegations against the UDF politicians revealed a prima facie cognizable offence and warranted the registration of a case.
Former Ministers K.M. Mani, V.S. Sivakumar, P.K. Jayalakshmi, Anoop Jacob and K.C. Joseph would come within the ambit of the precursory anti-corruption inquiry. So would UDF leaders R. Selvaraj, V.M. Ummer and M. Vincent.
Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, who was not named as a respondent in the petition filed by one Hafiz, did not come under the scope of the quick verification.
