Keralam home minister Ramesh Chennithala on Sunday ordered a Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) inquiry against chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in a 2006 case of alleged irregularities in a road construction project when the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer was then secretary of the state public works department.
But today, the circumstances are different and people can come forward with any evidence they have,” the former minister said. They must be examined. As far as I know, PATI-BEL did not want to continue with the project at the time and was fearful of the company’s name being maligned by a corruption probe.
The investigation will be a continuation of a preliminary VACB inquiry which was conducted in 2006 against Kumar and which fizzled out after the IAS officer left the state on a central deputation to Delhi that year. The home minister said a preliminary probe was ordered under then Left Democratic Front (LDF) government of VS Achuthanandan in 2006 and saw Kumar being shunted off the PWD department. TM Thomas Isaac, CPI(M) leader and finance minister during the 2006-11 LDF Government, welcomed the vigilance probe and said the country needed to know what happened in 2006. “The case files of the 2006 vigilance probe should be with the department.
Chennithala said the probe was ordered based on a complaint filed by Malayankeezhu Venugopal, a Congress leader and member of the state unit executive. The home minister said the decision to order the inquiry was taken following legal counsel and consultations with chief minister VD Satheesan. The allegations arose at the time following the death by suicide of Malaysian civil engineer Lee See Been, who was associated with the project, in Kuala Lumpur, said the minister.
