Chief Secretary S M Vijayanand rejects vigilance report against Tom Jose

Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Secretary S.M. Vijayanand has disapproved of   the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) report seeking action against additional chief secretary Tom Jose for allegedly causing a loss of Rs 1.21 crore in connection with the import of magnesium while he was managing director of Kerala Metals and Minerals (KMML) Ltd. The chief secretary’s decision comes in the wake of the  law secretary’s report that the Vigilance case against the bureaucrat might not hold ground.

He  also had sought clarification from the industries secretary on the allegations. The industries secretary gave a report stating that when tender proceedings happened,  Mr Jose had already left the post of managing director and hence he had no role in the matter.   Based on the reports submitted by the industries secretary and law secretary, the chief secretary forwarded a report to the chief minister for necessary action.

The Vigilance had registered a case against Mr Jose accusing him of causing a loss of  Rs 1.21 crore in magnesium purchase during 2011-15. While KMML used to purchase magnesium locally at  Rs 1.87 crore per metric tonne, during the term of Jose a global tender was invited. As a result,  magnesium was purchased at Rs 2.62 crore per metric tonne causing a loss of Rs 1.21 crore. It may be recalled that Mr Jose had raised objection to  the Vigilance case against him. In a statement earlier, he had stated that the FIR  exposed the complete ignorance of the purchase procedures and tender system followed in PSUs.

The officer also pointed out that the said purchase was made after his brief tenure as KMML  MD had ended. Jose said he held the charge of MD only for six months. The decision to go for global tender was taken in view of the reports that better quality magnesium was available in the international market and the price increase could be due to market fluctuations. “The decision for global tender was made in good faith by a group of professionals to get high quality magnesium at competitive prices. “In the intervening months between the advertisements and purchase orders, the price of magnesium went up due to supply-demand situations and exchange rate differences. Questioning a business decision made in good faith, attaching mala fide intentions and interpreting a perceived loss as corruption amounted to  stretching the law too far to harm people and reputations,” Mr Jose had pointed out in the statement.

“I left KMML before the purchase decision in question was made. My successor (Michael Veda Siromani) and his team could have decided to retender  it if they had found the lowest bid to be unreasonable. In my opinion, my successor’s decision to accept the lowest bid was based on the then prevailing market conditions,” he added. Meanwhile, sources said that even on the allegations of corruption against Mr Jose in connection with the purchase of 50 acres of land in Maharashtra, the chief secretary has given a clean chit. This was based on the findings of a detailed inquiry conducted into the matter earlier.