Vigilance court orders re-look at Chandy role in palm oil case

A special vigilance court on Monday directed the vigilance wing of the Kerala police to re-investigate the involvement of the then finance minister Oommen Chandy in the palm oil import case. The report should be submitted within three months.

Rejecting a report submitted by the vigilance stating that there was no evidence to accuse Oommen Chandy in the case, the special court judge PK Haneefa said that further enquiry should be done as there were serious lapses in the report.

The court said the statement of Oommen Chandy that he was not aware of the details of the import could not be considered seriously as the related file was with the finance department for around 45 days.

The court also observed that as finance minister, Chandy had given approval to the porposal of the food and civil supplies minister to include the import as a special item in the agenda of the cabinet meeting.

Chandy was also aware of the 15 per cent service charges involved in the import. So detailed enquiry is necessary, the court said.

Meanwhile, chief minister Oommen Chandy rejected the calls by the opposition for him to step down, in the light of the court order.

He and KPCC chief Ramesh Chennithala said there was no reason in demanding the resignation of the chief minister. He will face the enquiry and the party and the United Democratic Front (UDF) would back him strongly, Ramesh said.

As per the case, which orginated in 1991, the state's exchequer had a loss of Rs 2.32 crore through the import of palm oil from Singapore. The late chief minister K Karunakaran was the first accused in the case and TH Musthaffa, then food and civil supplies minister, was the second accused.

As per the original case, Oommen Chany was included in the list of witnesses and later the court ordered an enquiry against him.