PTI
Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 9: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Thursday tabled the judicial commission report on the solar scam and said that it has found that his predecessor Oommen Chandy and his staff had provided all help to accused Saritha S. Nair and her company to dupe the public.
Vijayan presented the four-volume report by Justice G. Sivarajan and a Memorandum of Action taken by the government regarding this regard in the House during the special session. This is the first time in the history of the Kerala Assembly a special session was convened to table the report of a judicial panel.
Giving details, he said the Commission had found that former Chief Minister Chandy and his personal staff had provided help to solar scam accused Saritha S. Nair and her company to dupe customers.
The Commission also recommended a probe into the allegations raised in a letter written by Saritha under CrPC and IPC and other rules, Vijayan said. Besides bribery charges against Opposition leaders, the Commission also found that they had got “sexual pleasure” from the accused, he said. “The Commission has pointed out that sexual pleasure comes under the ambit of illegal gratification defined in the Prevention of Corruption Act,” he said.
Vijayan said the government would initiate legal proceedings against everyone who were found by the Commission to have engaged in corruption.
An order has been issued setting up a Special Investigation Team to probe the solar scam based on the findings and recommendations of the Commission, the Left leader said.
“The government’s policy is that rules should be applicable to all…That is why the government has taken the stand that further proceedings will be initiated only after receiving legal opinion,” Vijayan added.
As soon as the Chief Minister stood up to table the report, Opposition members protested stating that Vijayan had committed breach of privilege by briefing the media last month about the Commission’s report before tabling it in the Assembly. However, the CM denied the charges and said he did not go into the merits of the report during the media briefing and the panel report became a public document when it was presented in the Cabinet. He said the government decided to table it fast as it had received a number of requests to get a copy of the report from various persons including opposition leaders.
The government had also sought legal opinion from former SC judge Justice Arijit Pasayat before issuing further orders, the CM added.
Justice G Sivarajan had submitted his report to the government on September 26, four years after the previous UDF government constituted the commission when charges surfaced about duping of several persons of crores of rupees by Saritha S Nair and her accomplice Biju Radhakrishnan by offering solar panel solutions.
The commission, set up in October 2013, had held 353 sittings, examined 214 witnesses and 972 documents.
