THRISSUR: Thrissur Vigilance court on Friday acquitted former chief secretary S Padmakumar and additional chief secretary Zachariah Mathew in the Palmolein import scam, noting that the allegations against them were groundless.
The court was considering a discharge petition submitted by the duo under CrPC 239. Special judge SS Vassan also orally observed that the Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, then Finance Minister, had seen the files and was aware about the deal and its financial transactions.
The incident had occurred in 1991-92 and dealt with the irregularities in the import of palmolein at 405 dollars per tone, while the price in the international market amounted to 392.25 dollars/tonne. A loss of 2.32 crore to the state exchequer was estimated. Then Chief Minister K Karunakaran, Civil Supplies Minister TH Musthafah, Chief Secretary S Padmakumar, Additional Chief Secretary Zachariah Mathew and Civil Supplies MD Jiji Thomson were marked as respondents in the case. K Karunakaran was removed as a respondent after his death.
Now, with the acquittal of the third and fourth respondents, a total of five respondents including Jiji Thompson will be tried by the court. It was after a gap of two years the court considered the 25-year-old case, which the UDF governments had attempted to withdraw in 2005 and 2013. The Thrissur Vigilance Court in 2013 had dismissed the discharge petition filed by former Food Minister T H Musthafa and former director of the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation Jiji Thomson.
The Additional Legal Advisor had argued that the Palmolein case files had passed through the hands of the duo before it was approved by the cabinet. According to Vigilance sources, the ALA had also submitted a letter between then Chief Minister K Karunakaran and the officials of the company before the negotiations for the deal had even begun.