Capex ex-chairman, MD named in vigilance FIR

KOLLAM: The Vigilance  has submitted an FIR in the corruption case at Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation (KSCDC) with the former chairman R. Chandrasekharan and former MD K.A. Ratheesh in the accused list. The case was registered following a quick verification report submitted by the Crime Branch nearly seven months back.

Chandrasekharan is the first accused in the case and  Ratheesh the second. Jaimon Joseph, owner of the controversial cashew trading company JMJ traders, is the third accused and  Bhuvanachandran Nair, the Kollam branch manager of cashew quality testing agency, the fourth. The Kollam unit DySP will be in charge of the inquiry.

The corporation had in 2015 purchased 2,000 tonnes of raw cashew from Guinea Bissau from Rs 30 crore allotted by the government after  Chandrasekharan had staged a protest in front of the secretariat. With this money, the KSCDC allegedly entered into a deal with the controversial JMJ Cashew, the sole participant in the e-tender, in August 2015.

The director board meeting on August 14 decided to purchase 2,000 tonnes of cashew of low quality having specifications, Outturn 53 pound and count 220, for a rate of Rs 117.01 per kilogram for a total of 23.40 crore.  The Vigilance has registered case on a petition filed before the Thiruvananthapuram Vigilance inquiry commission and special judge court by Kadakampally Manoj who managed to get a  CBI inquiry into the corruption at the corporation. The corruption took place after the High Court was about to pronounce the order for a CBI inquiry.