CBI argues for trial in Lavalin case

At a petition filed in HC, says it has collected evidence against accused

The CBI on Monday submitted before the Kerala High Court that as the agency had collected evidence in the SNC Lavalin case against the accused, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, trial was necessary to prove the involvement of all the accused in the case.

The CBI made the submission when the petition filed by it against the CBI special court’s verdict discharging all the accused in the case came up for hearing.

The CBI counsel submitted that the accused had hatched a conspiracy at every stage of the project implementation. The discharge of the accused without conducting trial was wrong.

The CBI’s case is that Pnarayi Vijayan, while serving as Electricity Minister from May 1996 to October 1998, along with the other accused, hatched a criminal conspiracy to award the contract for the renovation and modernisation of the Pallivasal, Sengulam, and Panniyar hydroelectric projects to Canadian company SNC-Lavalin at an exorbitant rate thereby causing huge loss to the State exchequer.

Senior Supreme Court lawyer Harish Salve,who appeared for Mr. Vijayan, last time had termed the CBI charges ‘fancy sounding and baseless.’

The special court, while discharging Mr. Vijayan and others, had held that the CBI was not able to prove that any of the accused gained “pecuniary advantage” while awarding the contract to SNC-Lavalin.