Thiruvananthapuram: The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has given a clean chit to Congress leader V S Sivakumar in a case registered against him for allegedly amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income while serving as the Health Minister during the term of the UDF Ministry under Oommen Chandy.

However, the Vigilance found that three other accused in the case, including Sivakumar’s driver and friends, had earned more money than their purported income and recommended an enquiry by the Income Tax Department against two among them.

The report filed by Vigilance in the case said that there is no evidence regarding unauthorised assets earned by Sivakumar, who is the first accused. As per the Vigilance, the investigation into the assets of Sivakumar and others who were in power in the Oommen Chandy Government in 2011-16 revealed that the assets in Sivakumar’s possession during this period did not exceed his income as a minister.

At the same time, the assets owned by M Rajendran, a friend of Sivakumar and the second accused in the case, had increased from ₹12 lakh to ₹1 crore between 2011 and 2016. Similarly, the assets of Shaiju Haran, Sivakumar’s driver and the third accused, rose from ₹6 lakh to ₹26 lakh, and those of N S Harikumar, another friend of Sivakumar, rose by ₹44 lakh. This increase in assets occurred while Sivakumar was the minister, the Vigilance report said.

While the Vigilance sought the government’s permission to prosecute Shaiju, as he had earned a government salary as the minister’s driver, it recommended an Income Tax Department probe into the two other accused.

The Vigilance had received the complaint against Sivakumar in 2016. Even though a preliminary probe report was submitted in 2018, no follow-up measures were taken. The case was finally registered in 2020, but the investigation dragged on for years. Subsequently, Sivakumar had approached the High Court seeking its intervention to close the case or complete the investigation quickly.

Reacting to the Vigilance report, Sivakumar said that he had been facing a witch-hunt over the last 10 years in a politically-motivated case. “The truth will be revealed one day, despite all efforts to conceal it. The case was filed against me in 2020, considering the Assembly election the following year. My family was also dragged into an unnecessary controversy. Health Minister Veena George should withdraw the statement she made in the Assembly against me and tender an apology,” he said.