An anti-corruption court here on Saturday quashed an appeal by retired bureaucrat P.J. Thomas to discharge him without trial in the 1997 palmolein import graft case.
In its final report filed in 2011, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) had arraigned Mr. Thomas as eight accused in the case. Mr. Thomas averred that the agency had made him an accused without obtaining prior sanction of the Central and State governments he had served.
The Vigilance had submitted its charge in the case when the sanction for his prosecution was pending. He had been charged with criminal conspiracy and corruption. The “wrongful arraignment” in the case had caused him “serious prejudice”.
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(Mr. Thomas’s appointment as the 14th Chief Vigilance Commissioner was annulled by the Supreme Court). Mr. Thomas argued that he had only processed the Cabinet’s decision in 1997 to speedily procure palmolein from a foreign entity to meet a dire requirement for edible oil at the time.
A. Baharudeen, Inquiry Commissioner and Special Judge, Vigilance, said that as Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies, it was Mr. Thomas’s duty to inform the Cabinet that procurement of palmolein from a foreign vendor without inviting global tender or Central sanction was a grave violation of rules and procedure.
The complicity of Mr. Thomas in the case was evident in the “hurry-burry” he showed in pushing the deal through “without even waiting for Central sanction”.
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It showed “prima facie” conspiracy on the part of Mr. Thomas as alleged by the prosecution. The court said there was sufficient material to frame charges against Mr. Thomas.