Thaindian News

Kochi, Oct 18 (IANS) The Kerala government informed the state high court Tuesday that it was not averse to a re-probe of the 1992 palm oil import case.

This was in response to a petition filed by senior Kerala bureaucrat Jiji Thompson, an accused in the case, who approached the court last month urging it to intervene and stop a reinvestigation as asked by the special vigilance court in Thiruvananthapuram.

A single bench then stayed all further reinvestigation for a month, served notice to the government and asked for all the case records.

The single bench of Justice K.T. Shankaran was Tuesday told by the Kerala government counsel that the reinvestigation can be finished in six weeks.

The case has been now posted for Oct 25, when the court will decide if a reinvestigation is necessary.

Even though the events of the case date back to 1992, it hit the headlines in March when it cost Central Vigilance Commissioner P.J. Thomas his job with the Supreme Court holding his appointment “non-est” in law.

Thomas was Kerala’s secretary of food and civil supplies when the palmoline was imported, allegedly at exhorbitant prices.

In August, special vigilance Judge P.K. Haneefa told the Vigilance Department to conduct a further investigation against Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who was the finance minister in 1992, and submit a report in three months.

The judge rejected the Vigilance Department report that gave a clean chit to Chandy, who is a witness in the case.

Citing a few apex court judgments, government chief whip P.C. George shot off a letter to president and the chief justices of the Supreme Court and the high court here that Haneefa’s action was against the law of the country.

Haneefa last month recused himself from the case and requested the high court to make alternate arrangements.

The import of 15,000 tonnes of palm oil was undertaken in 1992. The case was registered in 1999 when a Left government led by E.K. Nayanar was in power.

The Vigilance Department had earlier submitted a report stating that there was nothing that could indict Chandy in the case.

Former chief minister K. Karunakaran, then food minister T.H. Mustafa and bureaucrats P.J. Thomas and Jiji Thompson were charged with causing a loss of Rs.2.32 crore by importing oil from Malaysia at an enhanced price.