Thiruvananthapuram: In a verdict that could have a significant impact on the Kerala political scene, a CBI Special Court here on Tuesday discharged CPI-M State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan from the SNC-Lavalin graft case relating to renovation of hydel projects when he was Power Minister in the LDF ministry in 1998.
Allowing the discharge petition of Vijayan and five others, Judge R Raghu said the charges levelled against them were groundless since the prosecution had failed to establish fraudulent intention, abuse of power and element of cheating attributed against them.
“I have no hesitation in holding that charges levelled against the accused are groundless and all accused are entitled to be discharged,” the judge said.
The case, which has haunted 69-year-old Vijayan for nearly two decades, pertains to the contract given to Canadian firm SNC Lavalin for renovation of three hydel power stations.
The case surfaced after CAG reported that the state exchequer had suffered a loss of Rs 374.50 crore and also a promised amount of Rs 92.3 crore to the Malabar Cancer Centre did not materialise.
While Vijayan and five other accused, including a former Additional Chief Secretary and the then power board chairman, sought to be discharged from the case, a top Lavalin executive who figured as an accused, has refrained from responding to summons so far.
Reacting to the verdict, Vijayan said it showed that truth would triumph and it also marked the end of a harrowing phase in his career with political rivals haunting him.
The CPI(M) leader said he had withstood and survived unscathed mainly due to his firm conviction that he had not committed any error and also due to unstinted support extended by his party.
Observers said the verdict would enable Vijayan become more powerful in the party and emerge as the central figure of the LDF in the next assembly elections.
Apart from rival political parties, Vijayan had often faced digs from his bete noire in his own party V S Achuthanandan, despite the central leadership’s stand that this was a politically motivated case.
Vijayan also said this should also be a lesson for those in power against ‘misusing’ investigating agencies for securing political gains.
While welcoming the development, Achuthanandan said since the verdict had come, other views about the case had ceased to have relevance, apparently alluding to the divergent stand taken by him earlier.
However, he parried a question on whether he thought the court order would impact politics in Kerala. CPI(M) had dubbed the case as politically motivated and charged the UPA-I at the Centre with trying to settle scores with the party for withdrawing support to the government at the Centre.
The charge sheet in the case was filed in June 2012 against the accused.
Apart from Vijayan, the other accused included former Power Secretary K Mohana Chandran, Joint Secretary A Francis and Former Kerala State Electricity Board Chairman P A Siddartha Menon.
As soon as the verdict was delivered, party workers in different parts of the state took our marches in support of Vijayan. (PTI)