K A Ratheesh posting only after vigilance clearance

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Industries minister A C Moideen has said a decision on appointing K.A. Ratheesh, former managing director of Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation,  as the managing director of Kerala Automobiles Limited would be taken only after securing vigilance approval. “Mr Ratheesh’s request for a  re-appointment is under the government’s consideration. But his appointment is conditional on vigilance clearance as an enquiry is pending against him,” the minister told DC on Sunday. The vigilance had in June 2016 filed an FIR naming Mr Ratheesh as the second accused in a corruption case related to the import of cashew; former INTUC chairman and former CDC chairman R Chandrasekharan was the first accused.

Incidentally, the CDC had reportedly placed the import order right after managing to get Rs 30 crore released following a fast staged by Chandrasekharan in front of the Secretariat; the release of the money was earlier blocked by finance secretary K M Abraham on the grounds that the CDC was steeped in corruption. Two months later in August, the CBI, too, had registered a case. But the central agency’s probe had a wider scope, putting under the scanner CDC’s imports for nearly a decade from 2006 to 2015, the period when Ratheesh was in charge.

The Vigilance FIR was submitted on the basis of a quick verification conducted by the Crime Branch. The charge was that in 2015, the CDC, flouting store purchase rules and other procurement procedures, had entered into a deal with JMJ Traders to purchase 2000 tonnes of raw cashew at a price higher than market rates. JMJ Traders, it was found, was the sole bidder. It is also suspected that the testing of the nuts was fabrcated to pass off the imported nuts as of high quality. After the officer came under suspicion, the UDF Government had appointed Mr. Ratheesh as the Director of Kerala Institute for Entrepreneurship Development (KIED). Later, when the LDF came to power, the then industries minister E P Jayarajan had eased him out of the post.