No clean chit to any accused in Lavalin case: CBI

KOCHI: CBI Wednesday said it has not given clean chit to any of the accused in the graft case, in which CPI (M) Kerala secretary Pinarayi Vijayan is an accused.

A statement in this regard was made by CBI counsel in the special court here on a petition filed by T P Nandakumar, Crime Editor.

Vijayan, who is the seventh accused in the case, was the Power Minister when the renovation contract of the three hydel projects was awarded to Canadian multinational company S N C Lavalin in 1998.

Charges under 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (Cheating) of the IPC and 13 (2) and 13(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act had been filed against Vijayan.

The Lavalin company had got illegal benefit of Rs 86 crore through the deal, CBI said.

CBI counsel said the petitioner cannot dictate to the investigating agency on how the probe should be conducted. If valuable evidence is received, the CBI will probe it, it was stated.

The agency will also examine the veracity of a letter written by a person from Thiruvananthapuram alleging that the accused had received pecuniary benefits from the deal.