Pinarayi Vijayan and Oommen Chandy. Onmanorama/File photoThiruvananthapuram: Giving a clean chit to former chief minister Oommen Chandy in a case of alleged corruption in import of palmolein, the LDF government in Kerala Wednesday told a vigilance court that the Congress leader had no role in it.
The prosecution counsel, in his submission before the vigilance court here, maintained that Chandy was innocent.
The palmolein case had surfaced in 1992 alleging irregularities in the import of palmolein by the then UDF government led by former chief minister late K. Karunakaran.
The case was related to the import of 15,000 tonnes of palmolein oil from Malaysia that allegedly caused a loss of Rs 2.32 crore to the exchequer when Karunakaran was the chief minister and Chandy the finance minister during early 1990s.
The scandal was officially brought to light by a report of the accountant general of Kerala in July 1993 and a report of comptroller and auditor general (CAG) in February 1994. A report of the Public Undertakings Committee of Kerala Legislative Assembly in March had also shed light on the scam.
The scam rocked the Kerala assembly with V.S. Achuthanandan, the then leader of opposition, leading the campaign. In 1997, a vigilance case was registered against K. Karunakaran and six others.
The case dragged on as K. Karunakaran kept filing writ petitions and appeals before Kerala High Court and Supreme Court and obtaining a stay order from the top court in 2007 on further proceedings into the scam.
Though Chandy did not figure as an accused initially, a few years back, the vigilance court ordered a probe into his role in the cabinet decision to import palmolein oil.
This was later reversed by the vigilance court in Thrissur district following which Achuthanandan approached the Kerala High Court, which also dismissed plea for further investigation against Chandy.
The CPM leader later went in appeal to the Supreme Court.
(With agency inputs)
