The Kerala High Court on Wednesday upheld the verdict of the Thiruvananthapuram CBI Special Court discharging Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and two former Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) officials from the SNC-Lavalin corruption case.
However, the court made it clear that three other former KSEB officials who were discharged by the Special Court have to face trial in the case.
The court passed the verdict while partially allowing a revision petition filed by the CBI against the Thiruvanathapuram Special Court's verdict.
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The CBI charge sheet alleged that when Mr. Vijayan was the Electricity Minister from May 1996 to October 1998, he, along with the other accused, hatched a criminal conspiracy to award a supply contract to SNC-Lavalin at an exorbitant cost. The KSEB entered into a memorandum of understanding without inviting tenders, thereby violating all rules and regulations, it said.
The charge sheet claimed that the KSEB signed the supply contract with the company in 1997 without the government’s approval and on the basis of a decision arrived at by a high level delegation headed by Mr. Vijayan, which visited Canada.
It also said that the important consideration for awarding the ₹374.50 crore contract to SNC-Lavalin (which was not an original equipment manufacturer), without inviting global tenders, was an offer from SNC-Lavalin to facilitate a grant of ₹98.30 crore to establish a cancer hospital at Thalassery in Kannur, Mr. Vijayan’s home district in northern Kerala.
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The CBI, in its revision petition, said that the Special Judge had “entered into irrelevant arguments without going into the incrementing material and documents furnished by the prosecution to establish strong prima facie case against the respondent accused.”
The petition pointed out that the Special Court went wrong in proceeding to consider the validity of subsidiary agreement to provide grant to Malabar Cancer Centre as a vital factor without considering the allegation regarding the criminality of the contract awarded, dishonestly and fraudulently, at the behest of the accused in violation of the accepted procedure and rules.