SNC-Lavalin case verdict: Big win for Kerala CM as High Court acquits Pinarayi Vijayan of all charges, chides CBI

The Kerala High Court has given a clean chit to CM Pinarayi Vijayan, acquitting him of all charges, as per the latest TV reports. Harish Salve, Senior Advocate, represented Pinarayi Vijayan in the High Court. According to TV news reports, the judgment has over 100 pages and more details will be made available shortly.Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and two others in the SNC- Lavalin case saying that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) could not prove the accused guilty. In 1995, the Kerala state electricity board under the Congress-led UDF government took up a hydraulic infrastructure project with a Canadian Company SNC-Lavalin to renovate the hydraulic power stations at Pallivasal, Sengulam, and Panniar during 1995-1997 in the Idukki district of Kerala. According to the Memorandum signed by G. Karthikeyen the then Power Minister, the funds for the renovation were to be arranged by SNC-Lavalin from the Export Development Canada (EDC), Canada, and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

The deal resulted in an alleged net loss of Rs 374.50 crores to the state exchequer. In 1996, Pinarayi Vijayan, the then Power Minister proposed to provide a grant of Rs 100 crores to Malabar Cancer Centre and award Rs 374 crores for a 100MW project without tender. The final follow-up agreement with SNC-Lavalin regarding the renovation of PSP project was signed by Pinarayi Vijayan of Left Democratic Front, after they took office winning the majority in the Legislative Assembly in 1996, in February 1997.The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) later found out that Canadian company Lavalin was not the original equipment manufacturer and the goods were supplied by other firms at a much higher cost resulting in exceeding expenditure. Post CAG report, Kerala High Court ordered a CBI inquiry against Pinarayi Vijayan and others in January 2007. In 2009, the CBI filed a progress report on the investigation accusing Pinarayi Vijayan of hatching a criminal conspiracy while he was serving as the electricity minister between May 1996 to October 1998. But in November 2013, Pinarayi Vijayan and the other accused were discharged from the case. The Congress-led UDF then moved the high court to seek an early hearing of the revision petition challenging the CBI court’s decision. They alleged it was Vijayan who finalised the deal with the Canadian company. Almost three months later, the CBI filed a revision petition in the high court. Crime magazine editor Nandakumar too moved the high court against exoneration of Vijayan and the others.

”Truth has triumphed, justice has prevailed,” Kerala Minister G.Sudhakaran told media reporters immediately after the verdict. CPI (M) Kerala Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan told TV reporters,” It is the Chandy government that went after Pinarayi Vijayan and they had his name wrongly included in the SNC-Lavalin case. Now the Kerala High Court has given a clean chit to Pinarayi Vijayan and has even observed that CBI attempted to target him in a most unfair manner. That the CBI has wrongly targeted a leader of Pinarayi’s stature is most unfortunate and this has been noted specifically by the court. Now it is clear that the case itself was a fabricated one against Pinarayi Vijayan. We are a corruption-free political party and the intent of the CBI was to destroy the party’s corruption-free image. This verdict is a great win for Pinarayi Vijayan and the party. ”

The SNC-Lavalin case came under the radar after CAG’s report in 2009 which pointed out several irregularities in the deal. Harish Salve, who had represented Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan when the Lavalin case came up before the Kerala High Court in March 2017, rubbished CBI’s allegation of corruption and conspiracy in the SNC-Lavalin deal as a fabricated story. Salve also referred to the agreement with the Canadian company Lavalin as one that had been carried out with good intention at a crucial time when the state was reeling under a severe power crisis.x

The SNC-Lavalin case goes a long way back to the time when Pinarayi Vijayan was Power Minister in the state and he had signed with a Canadian company called SNC Lavalin in1997. The controversy grabbed headlines in 2005 when the CAG had pointed out several irregularities in the deal and that the funds promised for the Cancer Hospital in Malabar did not materialise. Further, CAG also reported a loss of Rs 347 to the state exchequer. Following the controversy around the deal, the case was handed over to the CBI by the Oommen Chandy-led UDF government in 2006. The CBI case diary was submitted before the Kerala High Court in 2008 and the following year, the CBI filed a charge sheet against Pinarayi Vijayan in the SNC-Lavalin case, in which he was listed as the seventh accused.