Solar Commission probe report prejudiced: Chandy

Former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Friday picked holes in the Solar Commission probe report and called it prejudiced.

Chandy's remarks came a day after he was indicted on several charges of engaging in corruption and even sexual harassment in the Justice G. Sivarajan (retd) Solar Commission probe report.

On Thursday, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, after calling a special one-day sitting of the Kerala assembly, tabled the commission report.

The multi-crore-rupee solar energy investment fraud that rocked the then Chandy government in 2013, was led by Saritha Nair and her live-in partner Biju Radhakrishnan.

The findings of the report indicted Chandy and his office and the way his three office staff had close links with Saritha Nair.

Addressing reporters at the state party headquarters for the second day in succession, Chandy said the report is largely based on a letter written by Nair.

"The Commission itself, in a stern order to her on June 22, 2016, had questioned her credibility but a year later, when the report came, it has taken a turn and became a prejudiced one. Over the years, she herself has changed her position on issues a few times," said Chandy.

"In the terms of reference of the probe, it was mentioned that all business deals of this couple which took place during the previous Left government (2006-11) would be probed but nothing has been done on it," said Chandy and showed a full page advertisement of the company owned by this couple that appeared in a leading newspaper, then with pictures of former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan and his cabinet colleagues, which spoke about the urgent need of promoting solar power projects in the state.

Chandy pointed out that there were 14 cases of fraud during the Left government and the commission failed to probe into it.

"When this fraud surfaced in 2013, we registered 32 cases of cheating by this couple to the tune of Rs 6.75 crore. But the present Vijayan government is giving importance to her letter and not to the people who lost their money to her fraud. Hence, we are of the opinion that this is a report without any significance and we will deal with this legally," added Chandy.

--IANS

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