The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has opened a criminal inquiry against four former top officials of the Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation (KSCDC) on the suspicion of corruption in the procurement of raw cashew nuts during the 2006-15 period.
The agency has named K. A. Ratheesh, former Managing Director, KSCDC; E. Kasim, former chairman; and R. Chandrasekharan, former chairman, as the main suspects in the case.
The CBI said it was also investigating a private cashew supplier, Jaimon Joseph, proprietor, M/s JMJ Traders, and “unknown others” in connection with the suspected multi-crore fraud that spanned nine years.
The agency’s case against the accused was that the KSCDC officials, all high-ranking political appointees, had “dishonestly awarded the contract for supplying raw cashew nuts” to Mr. Joseph’s firm “with the intention to cheat the corporation.”
In the process, the accused violated store purchase rules and other procurement procedures laid down by the State government.
Pointedly in 2012-13, the KSCDC sourced 92.07 per cent of its total raw material procurement from Mr. Joseph’s firm. The “low quality cashew nuts” was procured at “higher than market rates,” causing huge pecuniary loss to the corporation and “corresponding gain to M/s JMJ Traders”.
The CBI said the accused were involved in a conspiracy with the M/s JMJ Traders to manipulate the tests for assessing the quality of raw cashew nuts.
Their orchestrations opened the door for M/s JMJ Traders to pass of low-quality raw cashew nuts as top grade raw material. The suspects also brazenly allowed the private trader to charge the corporation higher than market rate for substandard raw cashew nuts. Its yield was woefully low when processed.
Mysteriously, the quality of raw cashew nuts was not tested as mandated by an independent third party at the port of discharge. Instead, a private laboratory conducted the tests after the raw material arrived at KSCDC factories. The dubious practice allowed the private supplier to manipulate the raw stock used for quality testing.
The CBI said that the KSCDC routinely routed the bulk of its procurement through M/s JMJ Traders.
Superintendent of Police, CBI, Kochi, A. Shiyas and Inspector, CBI, Jeejo Joseph are investigating the case.
