Kerala’s biggest financial scam, the Rs 98 crore SNC Lavalin case, took a major turn on Monday with the CBI telling the high court that it has decided to interrogate state CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, and former Congress Power Minister G Karthikeyan.
The CBI submission added that it was going to broadbase its investigations into the 12-year-old scandal to Canada, where SNC Lavalin is located. The Congess-led Opposition in the state has been insisting that Vijayan, now beginning his third consecutive term as the state CPI(M) chief after vanquishing the camp of factional rival and Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan last week, was the prime mover behind the scam in his role as the Power Minister in the E K Nayanar Government.
The scandal had its genesis in a 1996 agreement that the Congress-led UDF Government got the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) to sign with a Canadian power consulting company, SNC Lavalin, for replacing and modernising the obsolete generators in three hydroelectric projects at Pallivasal, Sengulam and Panniar.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Lavalin: Governor seeks more details on AG's opinion
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Kerala Governor R S Gavai has sought further details from the state government on the legal opinion of state Advocate General C P Sudhakara Prasad that there was no firm ground to grant permission to CBI to prosecute CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan in the SNC-Lavalin corruption case.
The legal opinion from the AG and the minutes of the cabinet decision in the case forwarded by the state government and the related documents and reports received from CBI were being examined in detail, a Raj Bhavan press release said here.
The clarifications sought for are awaited from the government, it said, adding that an appropriate decision would be taken as stipulated in the Constitutional provisions after considering all aspects.
The statement was issued in the wake of the "conflicting news and views appearing in the media" regarding the matter of granting sanction to prosecute Mr. Vijayan in the case, it said.
The SNC-Lavalin case relates to alleged corruption in awarding of contract for renovation of three hydro power stations in 1997 to Canadian firm SNC Lavalin, when Mr. Vijayan was state Power Minister.
Four months back, CBI had written to Governor, seeking permission to prosecute Mr. Vijayan, who in turn, referred the matter to the state government.
Considering the political ramifications, the government had referred the matter to the Advocate General.
The legal opinion from the AG and the minutes of the cabinet decision in the case forwarded by the state government and the related documents and reports received from CBI were being examined in detail, a Raj Bhavan press release said here.
The clarifications sought for are awaited from the government, it said, adding that an appropriate decision would be taken as stipulated in the Constitutional provisions after considering all aspects.
The statement was issued in the wake of the "conflicting news and views appearing in the media" regarding the matter of granting sanction to prosecute Mr. Vijayan in the case, it said.
The SNC-Lavalin case relates to alleged corruption in awarding of contract for renovation of three hydro power stations in 1997 to Canadian firm SNC Lavalin, when Mr. Vijayan was state Power Minister.
Four months back, CBI had written to Governor, seeking permission to prosecute Mr. Vijayan, who in turn, referred the matter to the state government.
Considering the political ramifications, the government had referred the matter to the Advocate General.
Lavalin developing into CPI-M's Bofors
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) is in trouble in Kerala. Its state secretary, Pinarayi Vijayan, who is a member of the party politburo, has been named in a corruption case. At the grassroots level, it has suffered erosion of popular support, resulting in humiliating defeats in by-elections to local bodies.
In the four and a half decades of its existence, the party has never faced a situation of this kind before. Since the Kerala unit is the largest and the richest, the rot here can hurt the party nationally.
Outwardly, the most serious of the twin challenges is the decision of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to prosecute Pinarayi Vijayan along with 10 others in the Lavalin case. The arraignment of a politburo member in a corruption case for the first time dents the party's clean image.
However, from an organisational viewpoint, the revolt at the lower levels is a more daunting challenge. It points to breakdown of the traditional bounds of discipline.
The corruption case is a fall-out of the State Electricity Board's Rs.3.75 billion deal with SNC Lavalin, a Canadian company, for modernising three ageing hydro-electric plants. Vijayan was electricity minister at the time and had led the team that went to Montreal to conclude the deal.
As soon as the CBI approached the state government for permission to prosecute him and some former officials, Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who is also a politburo member, publicly charged the central agency with implicating him as reprisal for the party withdrawing its support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)government.
The party state committee repeated the allegation in a resolution and declared it would meet the challenge politically. The politburo endorsed its stand.
Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, who has been involved in a losing sectarian fight with Vijayan, did not attend the state committee meeting which adopted the resolution. He flew to New Delhi apparently to convey his reservations on the issue to party general secretary Prakash Karat. His exertions did not lead to any re-thinking by the politburo.
The politburo's ready endorsement of the state unit's stand on the issue is proof of its clout in the party. Kerala, with only about 3.10 percent of the country's population, accounts for 34.28 percent of the CPI-M's nationwide membership of 982,155. At the last count, membership in the state stood at 336,644 as against 321,682 in the more populous West Bengal, where the party has enjoyed an unbroken run of power for more than 30 years.
There is a qualitative difference between the party units in the two states. In West Bengal, membership is comparatively stable, annual desertions being as low as 3.29 percent. Kerala has a drop-out rate of 10.62 percent, but the party continues to grow by attracting new members. A report presented at last year's party congress said more than 40 percent of the members in Kerala had joined after 2002.
In the elections that preceded the party congress, Pinarayi Vijayan convincingly demonstrated his hold over the organisation at all levels. The state unit, which has several businesses under its control and proven ability to attract donations from commercial interests, is believed to be a big contributor to the party's national coffers.
With the CPI-M giving the Lavalin case a political colour, it is certain to figure as a major issue in the Lok Sabha elections. It is already highlighting facts that serve its interests. It was a previous Congress-led government that signed the memorandum of understanding with the company and it was a subsequent Congress-led government that ordered the CBI inquiry.
The opposition counters it with arguments that serve its own interests. It was the Comptroller and Auditor General who brought to light the Lavalin deal irregularities. The Congress-led government had only given Lavalin a consultancy contract. Vijayan gave it a contract for renovation and supply of equipment.
The public's suspicion about corruption in the deal is based on the disappearance of nearly Rs.900 million which Lavalin was to have given to a cancer research society floated by the government. It is not clear if the CBI has any information on who got the money.
While the party faithful may readily accept the charge that the CBI was acting under political motivation, the party leadership will have a hard time selling it to voters who know that the high court ordered the CBI investigation and has been supervising it. The agency had to raid a government office to get hold of some records which the state government withheld.
Continuous desertion by long-time party members over the past few years is indicative of disillusionment at the lower levels with the leadership. In the Onchiyam area in Kozhikode district, those who left the party on their own or were thrown out have floated a parallel Marxist Party.
When the CPI-M expelled M.R. Murali, a municipal councillor of Shoranur in Palakkad district, eight others quit the council with him. In the byelections that followed they routed all but one of the official nominees, reducing the party to a minority in the municipality, which it has ruled since the 1970s.
In a panchayat byelection at Ambalapuzha in Alappuzha district, which was won by a CPI-M dissident, the party's official nominee ended up in third position.
Last week, in a bid to stem the rot, Vijayan asked the party's area committee in Shoranur to win back the rebels
In the four and a half decades of its existence, the party has never faced a situation of this kind before. Since the Kerala unit is the largest and the richest, the rot here can hurt the party nationally.
Outwardly, the most serious of the twin challenges is the decision of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to prosecute Pinarayi Vijayan along with 10 others in the Lavalin case. The arraignment of a politburo member in a corruption case for the first time dents the party's clean image.
However, from an organisational viewpoint, the revolt at the lower levels is a more daunting challenge. It points to breakdown of the traditional bounds of discipline.
The corruption case is a fall-out of the State Electricity Board's Rs.3.75 billion deal with SNC Lavalin, a Canadian company, for modernising three ageing hydro-electric plants. Vijayan was electricity minister at the time and had led the team that went to Montreal to conclude the deal.
As soon as the CBI approached the state government for permission to prosecute him and some former officials, Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who is also a politburo member, publicly charged the central agency with implicating him as reprisal for the party withdrawing its support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)government.
The party state committee repeated the allegation in a resolution and declared it would meet the challenge politically. The politburo endorsed its stand.
Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, who has been involved in a losing sectarian fight with Vijayan, did not attend the state committee meeting which adopted the resolution. He flew to New Delhi apparently to convey his reservations on the issue to party general secretary Prakash Karat. His exertions did not lead to any re-thinking by the politburo.
The politburo's ready endorsement of the state unit's stand on the issue is proof of its clout in the party. Kerala, with only about 3.10 percent of the country's population, accounts for 34.28 percent of the CPI-M's nationwide membership of 982,155. At the last count, membership in the state stood at 336,644 as against 321,682 in the more populous West Bengal, where the party has enjoyed an unbroken run of power for more than 30 years.
There is a qualitative difference between the party units in the two states. In West Bengal, membership is comparatively stable, annual desertions being as low as 3.29 percent. Kerala has a drop-out rate of 10.62 percent, but the party continues to grow by attracting new members. A report presented at last year's party congress said more than 40 percent of the members in Kerala had joined after 2002.
In the elections that preceded the party congress, Pinarayi Vijayan convincingly demonstrated his hold over the organisation at all levels. The state unit, which has several businesses under its control and proven ability to attract donations from commercial interests, is believed to be a big contributor to the party's national coffers.
With the CPI-M giving the Lavalin case a political colour, it is certain to figure as a major issue in the Lok Sabha elections. It is already highlighting facts that serve its interests. It was a previous Congress-led government that signed the memorandum of understanding with the company and it was a subsequent Congress-led government that ordered the CBI inquiry.
The opposition counters it with arguments that serve its own interests. It was the Comptroller and Auditor General who brought to light the Lavalin deal irregularities. The Congress-led government had only given Lavalin a consultancy contract. Vijayan gave it a contract for renovation and supply of equipment.
The public's suspicion about corruption in the deal is based on the disappearance of nearly Rs.900 million which Lavalin was to have given to a cancer research society floated by the government. It is not clear if the CBI has any information on who got the money.
While the party faithful may readily accept the charge that the CBI was acting under political motivation, the party leadership will have a hard time selling it to voters who know that the high court ordered the CBI investigation and has been supervising it. The agency had to raid a government office to get hold of some records which the state government withheld.
Continuous desertion by long-time party members over the past few years is indicative of disillusionment at the lower levels with the leadership. In the Onchiyam area in Kozhikode district, those who left the party on their own or were thrown out have floated a parallel Marxist Party.
When the CPI-M expelled M.R. Murali, a municipal councillor of Shoranur in Palakkad district, eight others quit the council with him. In the byelections that followed they routed all but one of the official nominees, reducing the party to a minority in the municipality, which it has ruled since the 1970s.
In a panchayat byelection at Ambalapuzha in Alappuzha district, which was won by a CPI-M dissident, the party's official nominee ended up in third position.
Last week, in a bid to stem the rot, Vijayan asked the party's area committee in Shoranur to win back the rebels
Lavalin case: Congress hopes to corner Kerala CPI-M
Thiruvananthapuram: As the infighting in the Kerala wing of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) becomes more pronounced in the wake of the Central Bureau of Investigation's request to prosecute state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, the opposition Congress is watching with glee.
The Congress hopes the corruption case will help it electorally and prove to be CPI-M's undoing after the Left Front had swept the Lok Sabha elections in the state in 2004.
With the Vijayan caught up in the SNC-Lavalin corruption case, political climate has never been so good for the Congress.
The party is all set to make the corruption case a big issue for the Lok Sabha elections and is all set to launch 'The save Kerala campaign' with a specific focus on the Lavalin case.
"Transparency in public life is most important issue here. Unfortunately CPI-M and politburo is trying to shield the culprits and we shall expose that to the people," says Ramesh Chennithala, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee President.
The Auditor General has asked three weeks time to study the letter forwarded by the Governor seeking permission to prosecute Vijayan, something which many see as a ploy by the state government to help Vijayan complete his Nava-Kerala yatra (tour).
While Chief Minister VS Achuthanathan might have made his mind clear, the rest of his Cabinet is busy shielding the part secretary.
It's this that the Congress-led opposition will look to attack in the days to come.
"We agree to what the Chief Minister says. But that's not what his ministers are doing. Chief Minister should be able to restrain his ministers from making statements that support the accused in this case," says Ommen Chandy, senior Congress leader and leader of Opposition.
The Lok Sabha elections are just two months away and the Congress in Kerala perhaps for the first time will feel that they have a real issue on their hands which could very well put them on a sound wicket in the run up to the polls.
The Congress hopes the corruption case will help it electorally and prove to be CPI-M's undoing after the Left Front had swept the Lok Sabha elections in the state in 2004.
With the Vijayan caught up in the SNC-Lavalin corruption case, political climate has never been so good for the Congress.
The party is all set to make the corruption case a big issue for the Lok Sabha elections and is all set to launch 'The save Kerala campaign' with a specific focus on the Lavalin case.
"Transparency in public life is most important issue here. Unfortunately CPI-M and politburo is trying to shield the culprits and we shall expose that to the people," says Ramesh Chennithala, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee President.
The Auditor General has asked three weeks time to study the letter forwarded by the Governor seeking permission to prosecute Vijayan, something which many see as a ploy by the state government to help Vijayan complete his Nava-Kerala yatra (tour).
While Chief Minister VS Achuthanathan might have made his mind clear, the rest of his Cabinet is busy shielding the part secretary.
It's this that the Congress-led opposition will look to attack in the days to come.
"We agree to what the Chief Minister says. But that's not what his ministers are doing. Chief Minister should be able to restrain his ministers from making statements that support the accused in this case," says Ommen Chandy, senior Congress leader and leader of Opposition.
The Lok Sabha elections are just two months away and the Congress in Kerala perhaps for the first time will feel that they have a real issue on their hands which could very well put them on a sound wicket in the run up to the polls.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
