KOCHI: Now that Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan has given his nod to probe the role of Kalamassery MLA and former PWD minister VK Ebrahim Kunju in Palarivattom flyover scam, Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) will question Kunju and take a call on arraigning him as the main accused in the case. In fact, it’s a big victory for the VACB team when Kerala Governor gave the permission to proceed against Kunju as the team successfully convinced both the state government and the Governor’s office on Kunju’s alleged involvement in the corruption by presenting strong evidence.
“We can now proceed against Ebrahim Kunju as per the law that includes interrogation. We will decide our course of action in the coming days,” said VACB Superintendent of Police V G Vinod Kumar, who heads the investigation team.
VACB officers said the probe team had already collected all necessary evidence against Ebrahim Kunju and they only need to corroborate it with him based on the statements given by the other accused in the case. The probe team had collected a file that Kunju had signed, approving the release of an advance amount of `8.25 crore to the firm that was picked to build the flyover. The allegation is that the firm which built the substandard flyover was given an advance at a low-interest rate though there was no such provision. The PWD file (GO No.57/14/PWD) was approved on July 15, 2014. The file having 13 pages (9+4) had the abstract mentioned as “PWD-SPEED Kerala Programme – Construction of flyover at Palarivattom – Request for advance payment – Sanctioned — Orders issued.”
PWD officials had given statements to VACB that it was this file that Kunju had signed and approved for the release of mobilisation fund to RDS Project Ltd in violation of rules. Former PWD principal secretary TO Sooraj had also mentioned this file as evidence against Kunju.
