THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Vigilance Court here on Thursday directed the officials who investigated the bar bribery scam to produce before it all documents related to the case, in which Finance Minister K M Mani was allegedly involved.
Vigilance Judge John K Illikadan gave the directive while considering the final report of the Vigilance in the bar bribery scam, which had sought closing the case as there was no evidence against Mani. They have been directed to produce the documents on August 7.
The investigating officials have been asked to produce the case diary, the quick verification report and the order of the Vigilance director with respect to registering the case. The court also ordered to serve notice on Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan and Kerala Bar Hotel Owners Association working president Biju Ramesh, who are defacto complainant and first witness respectively. In the final report submitted before the Vigilance Court on Tuesday, the Vigilance said that there was no proof to show that the amount collected by the bar owners was handed over to Mani for renewal of bar licences. In its report submitted before the Vigilance Court on Tuesday, the Vigilance also concluded that Mani had not taken any special interest favouring the bar hotel owners in the bar licence issue and the decision with regard to renewal of bar licences was taken collectively by the government. Hence they had sought closing the case against Mani.
It was based on the complaint of Achuthanandan to the Vigilance director that the government had ordered a Vigilance probe against Mani and a case was registered naming him as the first accused. Ramesh had alleged that he had handed over `1 crore in two instalments to Mani to renew liquor licence.