The Vigilance court at Thalasssery on Friday ordered the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) to conduct further inquiry into the allegations of disproportionate assets against former Minister K.C. Joseph, MLA.
The court ordered the VACB to submit an additional report on the investigation by November 29. The court issued the order while considering the objection note of the complainant, A.K. Shaji, a Right to Information activist from Iritty here, against the earlier report of the VACB cell in Kozhikode that the former Minister did not have disproportionate assets. According to the complainant, the earlier Vigilance report contained many discrepancies. In the original complaint filed by him, Mr. Shaji said that in the affidavit submitted by Mr. Joseph with the election nomination in 2016 showed that his assets were disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Joseph’s version
Mr. Joseph, in his response to the Vigilance court’s order, said that he would cooperate with the Vigilance probe. Stating that he had nothing to hide, he said the Vigilance report had clearly noted that the assets he had declared were Rs.36 lakh less than his and his wife’s income. His wife is a retired bank employee with her own savings. He added that there was a confusion in the declaration of assets submitted along with the nomination, because his son, who works in the Gulf, was mentioned as a dependant. His son was employed as assistant manager for several years in a reputed foreign firm. It could be that his income was misread as that of Mr. Joseph
Communist Party of India (Marxist) district secretary P. Jayarajan said that the Vigilance court’s order was a major blow to the Congress leader. He said the detailed probe would expose the corrupt practices during the previous United Democratic Front rule.
