Vijayan Receives Bail in Graft Scam Case
A special CBI court in Kochi has granted bail to Kerala CPM Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, accused in a graft scam pertaining to awarding of a contract to a Canadian firm during his tenure as Power Minister in 1998.
Granting bail to Vijayan, Jugde KP Jothindranath directed him to provide a bail bond of Rs 2 lakh and two sureties for the like amount.
Vijayan, who was accompanied by his counsel M K Damodaran, appeared before the court and sought bail. Tight security was put in place in the court when Vijan arrived with a host of party leaders.
CBI had filed a chargesheet listing Vijayan as the seventh accused in the case relating to alleged corruption in awarding of contract to the Canadian company SNC Lavalin for renovation of three hydel projects in 1998.
On July 23, the CBI special court had issue summons to all the nine accused in the case, including Vijayan, to appear before it on September 24. Vijayan didn’t appear on medical ground.
Lavalin official Claus Trendl and Lavalin company have not yet accepted the summons.
Five accused – former principal secretary (Power) K Mohanachandran, former KSEB chairmen R Shivadasan and Siddharta Menon, former chief engineer (Generation) Kasturiranga Iyer and former joint secretary (Power) A Francis – were earlier granted bail on a bond of Rs two lakh and two sureties for a like amount.
