The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau on Monday gave a lie detector test to a key witness in the bar licence renewal bribery case.
The witness, Ambili, an employee of the Kerala Bar Hotels Association (KBHA) working president Biju Ramesh, the complainant in the case, had earlier agreed in court to undergo a polygraph examination to corroborate his allegations of graft against Finance Minister K.M. Mani, the sole suspect in the case.
‘No fear’
Vigilance investigators escorted Mr. Ambili to the State Forensic Sciences Laboratory where he was given the three-hour test. He told media persons that nothing would deter him from telling the truth and he had no fear.
The investigators said they wanted to detect deception, if any, in Mr. Ambili’s statement that implicated Mr. Mani in the graft case.
First instalment
Mr. Ambili had stated that he had chauffeured KBHA president D. Rajkumar Unni to Mr. Mani’s official residence in April, 2014. The aim of the visit was to pay an instalment of the bribe, in this case Rs.50 lakh, Mr. Mani had allegedly demanded to favour the renewal of licences of 418 bars closed last fiscal year.
Mr. Ambili stated that Mr. Mani himself had come to the portico to receive the “currency filled” suitcase. The investigators said this was the first of more lie detector tests in the case.
