New CVC an accused in palmolein scam in Kerala

Arjun Raghunath
The New Indian Express
9 Sep 2010

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Centre may have given a clean chit to P J Thomas, the Kerala cadre IAS officer who has been appointed the Chief Vigilance Commissioner, but to the State Vigilance Anti-Corruption Bureau, he is still an accused in the palmolein import case.
State government sources said so far there is no information on the exoneration of Thomas in the case chargesheeted in the court of the Enquiry Commissioner and Special Judge (Vigilance) here in 2003.
Thomas is the eighth accused in the case (6/2003) chargesheeted by the VACB.
Further proceedings in the case were stayed after K Karunakaran, another accused in the case, approached the Supreme Court maintaining that the Speaker’s permission was required to prosecute him.
VACB sources said as per the current status of the case, P J Thomas is still an accused in the case. “We don’t have any records showing Thomas has been exonerated in the case,” the source said. The Vigilance Special Court where the case was registered too does not have any record to show that Thomas has been exonerated of the charges. While the Prime Minister has held high Thomas’s integrity, Home Minister P Chidambaram said Thomas was exonerated in the palmoil import scam.
The appointment of Thomas as CVC had sparked off a controversy with the BJP questioning his integrity over his alleged involvement in a 2G spectrum deal as well as the palmolein case. Subsequently, the Congress leadership had come to his rescue. The case pertains to irregularities in the import of 15,000 tonnes of palmolein to the state through the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation (Supplyco).
According to the Vigilance case, the then Chief Minister K Karunakaran colluded with Food Minister T H Mustafa, Chief Secretary S Padmakumar, Supplyco MD Jiji Thomson and Civil Supplies Secretary P J Thomas to cause a loss of Rs 2.80 crore to the exchequer.