The Kerala High Court on Friday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to furnish details of the certain aspects involved in the SNC-Lavalin corruption case from which Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and six other accused were discharged by a CBI Special Court.
The court passed the order during the hearing on a revision petition filed by the CBI challenging the Thiruvananthapuram CBI Special Court order discharging Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and six others from the SNC-Lavalin corruption case.
The court asked the CBI to provide details as to whether the alleged offer made by the SNC-Lavalin to provide funds for establishment of a cancer centre was actually part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) or the first contract and also explain under what circumstances such offer was made and the circumstances under which the offer was accepted by the KSEB.
The court ordered to furnish details of the parties to the original contract, KSEB officers and others who facilitated the original contract, essential terms of the original contract, details of the revised or modified contract, persons arraigned as accused at the initial stage as regards the initial contract and conspiracy surrounding the contract, persons arraigned as accused during the investigation, circumstances and material on the basis of which those persons were subsequently arraigned as accused and nature of conspiracy at the later stage.
The court directed the CBI to provide the details in writing and posted the petition for further hearing on March 15
The CBI case was that Mr. Vijayan, while serving as Electricity Minister from May 1996 to October 1998, along with the other accused, had hatched a criminal conspiracy to award the supply contract for the renovation and modernisation of the Pallivasal, Sengulam, and Panniar hydroelectric projects to SNC-Lavalin at an exorbitant cost and in violation of the rules and regulations.
According to the CBI charge-sheet, in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy, the accused persons did not execute a binding agreement with the SNC-Lavalin for getting the full grant of ₹98.3 crore offered for setting up the Malabar Cancer Centre (MCC) at Thalassery. The company was able to withdraw from its commitment of providing the full promised grant of ₹98.3 crores due to the non-execution of a binding agreement. The company thus had spent only ₹12.5 crore for the MCC, causing a wrongful loss of ₹86.25 crore to the government exchequer.
