THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau has given a clean chit to CM V D Satheesan in the Punarjani case. The case pertains to allegations that there was violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act while receiving money from abroad for 2018 post-flood rehabilitation activities in Paravoor under the Punarjani project.
Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said the Vigilance Director in his report had clearly mentioned that the case was dropped as no evidence could be unearthed to implicate the CM in this case.
The LDF government had announced a Vigilance probe against Satheesan citing that Ernakulam-based Manappat Foundation had received the funds through its accounts from abroad for rehabilitating the flood victims in Paravur constituency and the FCRA rules were flouted. No violation of law was detected during the probe and there was no evidence to link Satheesan with the fund transfer, the Vigilance had reported.
Ramesh said the LDF government had registered the case with a political motive and the first investigation by the Vigilance revealed that the allegations were baseless. Still another probe was conducted and that also revealed that the allegations did not hold any merit, Ramesh added.
During the final stage of the second Pinarayi government there was move to handover the probe to the CBI citing that FCRA violation and soliciting donations during a foreign visit should be better probed by a central agency.
Ramesh said the decision to wind up the case was not taken on any political grounds, but on the basis of the report filed by the Vigilance Director.