Oommen Chandy Helped Solar Scam Accused to Cheat Customers: Judicial Commission Report

Kerala's Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today tabled the full text of the Solar Inquiry Commission Report at a special session of the State Legislative Assembly. The report of the Judicial Commission has found former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and several others leaders of the Congress guilty of corruption.

The solar scam, which surfaced in the year 2013, pertains to fraudulent deals indulged in by Team Solar, a company run by Saritha Nair and her business partner Biju Radhakrishnan, by luring clients for solar panel installation schemes and offering to make them business partners. Saritha and Biju had used high-profile names including that of Chandy in order to canvas people for this purpose.

The couple is alleged to have amassed money by swindling investors of Rs 7 crore, and it was alleged that Chandy’s office was at the centre of the scam.

“The Commission has found that [the then] Chief Minister Sri. Oommen Chandy and through him his personal staff Tenny Joppan, Jikkumon Jacob, gunman Salimraj and his aid at Delhi, all had assisted Team Solar accused Saritha S.Nair and her Company in enabling them to cheat their customers,” says the report.

“The Commission has also found that the then Home and Vigilance Minister Sri. Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan made all efforts from his part to ensure that the Chief Minister Sri. Oommen Chandy is extricated from criminal liability through police officers under him.”

The Commission also found that former Power Minister Aryadan Mohammed assisted Team Solar Company “in whatever manner possible”.

The report also says that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) which probed the case tried to save Chandy by avoiding the examination of important documents.

The SIT "has strained much by dubious methods to extricate the Chief Minister from criminal liability," says the report.

“The SIT did not probe into the involvement of other Ministers, Government officers, Central Minister, MLA's and Police Officers in the investigation of the solar cases with reference to the CDRs and other evidence on record.”

“The Commission has also found that all the Ministers who inaugurated the functions of Team Solar company, the MLA's who recommended Saritha Nair's Team Solar Company for installing solar street lights in their constituencies and also in settling their criminal cases and Sri. Thampanoor Ravi, Ex. MLA, Sri. Benny Behnan MLA etc. had worked for saving the CM Sri. Oommen Chandy.”

The Judicial Commission, headed by Justice (Retired) G Sivarajan, was set up after a massive blockade of the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram by the Left Democratic Front (which was then in opposition) on 12 August 2013. More than one lakh people had participated in the blockade which brought Kerala’s capital city to a standstill.

The Commission submitted its four-volume report which runs into 1073 pages to the LDF government on 26 September 2017.

The Commission has recommended that the State Government should seriously consider the applicability of the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act against all those persons against whom Corruption and illegal gratification are alleged based on evidence produced before the Commission.

The LDF government had ordered a vigilance investigation against Oommen Chandy and others after the Commission submitted its report.

Copies of the report were given to all the legislators and to the media after the report was tabled. The report has also been uploaded on the Legislative Assembly website. The Assembly website, niyamasabha.org, crashed during the day following the increased traffic to access the report's copies in English and Malayalam.

After the 50-minute Assembly session, the opposition leaders got together at the official residence of Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala to tackle the fresh developments, reports IANS.