THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government has given permission to Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) to register a case against senior Congress legislator VS Sivakumar, former state health minister, based on a complaint that he has assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. The state government gave the nod to register the case against him in the wake of the permission granted by the Governor.
Earlier, the Vigilance had conducted a probe into the allegation against him and filed a report seeking a detailed investigation into the charges. The main charge against Sivakumar was that he had amassed wealth disproportionate to his known assets during his stint as health minister in the previous government. Soon after the permission was granted by the state government, Sivakumar said that the government is settling political scores.
The VACB had earlier conducted a probe against the allegations and it had found nothing incriminating against him. The new one is based on an anonymous complaint, said Sivakumar. The opposition Congress charged that the new case is aimed at diverting the attention of the present issues especially in the CAG report which indicted the government, pointing at gross irregularities in funds utilisation.