Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi, Jan 22: A day after CBI sought permission from Kerala Governor to prosecute senior CPM member Pinarayi Vijayan accused in the SNC-Lavalin case, CPM politburo on Thursday called an emergency meeting in national capital to discuss the issue.
Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan is also expected be present during the closed door meeting.
Earlier in the day, party general secretary Prakash Karat also refused to comment on the issue. "I`m not interested now (to comment on the CBI chargesheet). I have nothing to say about this," Karat told reporters.
The CBI had yesterday sought sanction from Kerala Governor and Chief Secretary for prosecuting 11 accused, including Vijayan, in the case relating to the award of consultancy and renovation contracts of three hydel projects in Kerala to Canadian firm SNC Lavlin during LDF rule in 1998.
The process of negotiations of the contracts began during the time of the UDF government headed by A K Antony when G Karthikeyan, who is presently an MLA, was the power minister.
The contract was signed by the LDF government, headed by E K Nayanar in March 1998, when Pinarayi Vijayan, presently CPI(M) state secretary, was the Power Minister.
As per one of the contract clauses, about Rs 100 crore had been promised by the Canadian firm Lavlin for the development of the Malabar Cancer Center at Thalassery. However, only about Rs 16 crore was given to the center.
The progress report in the case was submitted on Thursday before the High Court and CBI Special court by CBI Chennai unit DYSP, Ashok Kumar, in a sealed cover, ahead of the January 23 deadline set by the High Court to the agency to complete the investigation and file its report.
The 11-year-old politically sensitive case relates to alleged corruption with regard to the award of consultancy and renovation contracts of Panniyar, Shengulam and Pallivasal hydel projects to Canada`s biggest engineering firm, SNC Lavlin, which caused a loss of about Rs 374.5 crore to the state exchequer.
CBI standing counsel M V S Namboodiri informed the division bench, comprising Justices A K Basheer and Thomas Joseph, regarding the compliance of the High Court order.
CPI(M) Politburo member and Kerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had on Wednesday accused the Centre of misusing the CBI by trying to implicate party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan in the SNC-Lavalin case to wreak political vengeance for withdrawing support to the UPA.
