Thiruvananthapuram: The Satheesan government’s decision to reopen a nearly two-decade-old alleged ‘corruption’ case involving Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has given a fresh political dimension to an investigation that was closed then.
The case assumes significance beyond the original allegations as Kumar, who was then a senior IAS officer, is now the head of the Election Commission of India.
The Congress-led INDIA bloc has been openly critical of CEC Kumar on several issues concerning the functioning of the poll panel.
Interestingly, the move to reopen the case has also drawn support from the CPI(M), which is part of the INDIA bloc along with the Congress.
The Congress and the CPI(M), despite their political differences in Kerala, have welcomed the decision to revive the investigation.
The first move has now been made by the Vigilance Department. But the team headed by Vigilance Director Manoj Abraham is proceeding cautiously, aware of the legal and practical difficulties involved in reopening a case closed nearly two decades ago.
The immediate task is to retrieve the files relating to the Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP) road project, believed to be lying in a Public Office in Thiruvananthapuram.
The Vigilance team will also have to examine whether electronic records connected with the original investigation can still be recovered.
The computers and systems used at the time have long crossed their normal operational life, making recovery of old digital data another challenge.
The case dates back to the suicide of Malaysian engineer Lee See Bin, the project director of Patibel, which was associated with the road project.
Allegations of corruption were raised in connection with the project. However, the Vigilance investigation was subsequently closed after finding no evidence against Gyanesh Kumar.
The earlier investigation was conducted during the V.S. Achuthanandan government.
A sub-committee comprising the then Ministers M. Vijayakumar, K.P. Rajendran, T.U. Kuruvilla and Thomas Isaac had examined the allegations. Kuruvilla has since passed away.
The Vigilance team will now have to revisit the statements recorded at the time, including those of officials of the General Administration and Finance departments, KSTP and representatives of the company.
The statement of the chartered accountant who audited the road project is also expected to be crucial.
The department will first examine whether the available material provides sufficient grounds for a fresh investigation.
The probe, therefore, is set to become as much a politically watched investigation involving the country’s top poll official as a reopening of an old corruption case.
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