Thomas faces criminal conspiracy charges

Arjun Raghunath
The New Indian Express
04 Mar 2011

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: P J Thomas, who was shown the door by the Supreme Court from the post of Central Vigilance Commissioner, is facing criminal conspiracy charges in the palmolein case. Thomas, a former Food and Civil Supplies Secretary in Kerala, was arraigned as the eighth accused in the case.

He was even summoned to the Inquiry Commissioner and Special Judge (Vigilance) in Thiruvananthapuram in April, 2003. He appeared before the court and took bail. Hence a person on bail in a corruption case was holding the highest post of the Vigilance machinery of the nation.

It was ‘Express’ which first reported that the stand of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P.Chidambaram that Thomas had been given a clean chit in the palmolein case was baseless. ‘Express’ reported on September 9, 2010 that the CVC was still an accused in the corruption case. Had the Supreme Court not intervened, a precedence would have been set for tainted officials to stake claim to the much coveted post.

The palmolein scam pertains to the import of 15,000 tonnes of palmolein from the Singapore-based Power and Energy Corporation to Kerala under the ‘rupee clearance scheme’ at the time of the K Karunakaran-led Congress Ministry during 1991-95. The investigation had found that the state exchequer suffered a loss of `2.3 crore in the deal. Thomas was then Kerala’s Food and Civil Supplies Secretary.

The irregularities were first brought to light in 1993 by the then Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan. A subsequent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India also pointed out corruption in the palmolein import.

A probe conducted by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) concluded that there were irregularities in the Palmolein deal.

P J Thomas had been arraigned as the eighth and last accused in the case. K Karunakaran, the then Civil Supplies Minister T H Musthafa, former Chief Secretary S Padmakumar, former Additional Chief Secretary Zacharia Mathew, Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation former managing director Jiji Thomson, former Director of the Malaysian firm V Sadasivan and his personal assistant S. Sivaramakrishnan are the other accused in the case.

The VACB had filed charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act against Thomas and Jiji Thomson. But since the Centre did not grant prosecution sanction, the charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act were later withdrawn and the two IAS officers were charged under Section 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code for criminal conspiracy, for which the nod of the Centre was not required.

An action-taken-report prepared by the Congress Government in Kerala in January 1995 in response to the CAG’s report also stated that though the Singapore-based firm had sent a letter to the then Chief Minister K Karunakaran in November 1991, offering to import palmolein under the rupee clearance scheme, the letter was neither put up to the Chief Minister nor seen by him before Thomas sent a proposal to the Centre for the import of 15,000 metric tonnes of palmolein. The name of the Singapore-based firm was also specified in the letter.

The ATR also mentions that the proposal forwarded by Thomas was accepted by the Centre and it formed the basis for the entire palmolein import deal.

Moreover, Thomas had made the proposal to the Centre much before the State Cabinet accorded sanction for the proposal. While Thomas sent the letter to the Centre on November 18, 1991, the State Cabinet granted its nod only on November 27, 1991.