The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday told the Supreme Court that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should face trial in the SNC Lavalin corruption case.
The premier investigation agency said Mr. Vijayan had travelled to Canada as a “guest” of Lavalin in 1997. It was there, in Canada, he had made the "crucial" decision to promote Lavalin, who was a mere consultancy firm retained on fixed-rate basis, from consultants to suppliers.
The corruption case concerns the loss of ₹86.25 crore in the Kerala State Electricity Board’s (KSEB) contract with Lavalin for the renovation and modernisation of Pallivasai, Sengulam and Panniar hydroelectric projects in Idukki district of Kerala.
Mr. Vijayan was the State’s power minister then.
In 1995, Lavalin had only a memorandum of understanding with the State government. Consultancy agreements were signed on February 24, 1996. On February 10, 1997, the consultancy agreements were changed to full-fledged supply contracts “solely at the behest” of Mr. Vijayan, the CBI submitted in a 12-page affidavit in the Supreme Court.
It was during the same Canada visit that the proposal for construction of a cancer centre at Thalassery was mooted by Mr. Vijayan, the CBI submitted. The binding agreement with Lavalin for the construction of the Malabar Cancer Centre, worth ₹98.3 crore, eventually failed to materialise.
The CBI said the decision of the Kerala High Court to discharge the Chief Minister was “not correct.”
“SNC Lavalin had obtained huge wrongful gains on account of the contracts awarded to them…Willful omissions and commissions on the part of public servants provided the opportunity to SNC Lavalin for deriving wrongful gain, causing corresponding loss to KSEB,” the CBI submitted.
Work was awarded to Lavalin without inviting any tenders for ₹243.74 crore. By the time work was completed, the costs had gone up to ₹374.5 crore. A criminal case was registered on February 12, 2007. CBI filed its chargesheet on June 12, 2009.
The High Court had on August 23, last year, discharged Mr. Vijayan and two former KSEB senior officers — K. Mohanachandran and A. Francis — of charges. Mr. Mohanachandran is a former Principal Secretary, Department of Power; and Mr. Francis, the then joint secretary in the same department.
However, three other accused — M. Kasthuriranga Iyer, G. Rajasekharan Nair and R. Sivadasan — were asked to stand trial. Mr. Nair was then Member (Accounts) of the KSEB and Mr. Iyer was Chief Engineer (Generation) in the board.
The accused who were ordered to stand trial appealed to the Supreme Court for parity of treatment. They argued that the case is based on the same facts and if Mr. Vijayan can be discharged, they should also be freed of allegations.
The CBI followed to the apex court with its own appeal against the High Court decision. The agency said all the accused in the Lavalin case, including the Chief Minister, should be tried. How could the High Court hold there was criminal conspiracy on one hand but nevertheless discharge select accused persons? the agency asked in the apex court.
A Supreme Court Bench led by Justice N.V. Ramana had in January this year stayed the trial in the case.