Thiruvananthapuram: The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau has filed an FIR in Thiruvananthapuram vigilance court and inquiry commission against former vigilance director Jacob Thomas on charges of conspiracy, corruption and bid-rigging in the procurement of costly dredging equipment when he was director of ports (DoP) during 2011 -12.
K.E. Baiju, SP, Special Investigation Unit-I, VACB, filed the FIR in the court of Inquiry Commissioner and Special Judge, D. Ajith Kumar, the other day even as Thomas has submitted an application for voluntary retirement.
Sources said that the application for the voluntary retirement will be taken up only after the court decided on the matter.
Though Rs 8 crore was sanctioned for buying the dredger, the amount he allegedly spent for it was Rs 19 crore. The case was filed in the complaint that was once examined and rejected by the vigilance and the High Court.
The special unit of the vigilance filed the FIR in the court after a preliminary inquiry. The main allegation is that Jacob Thomas misused his official post causing financial loss to the government. This was based on the findings of the finance department which probed the alleged irregularity on the basis of a complaint. In the investigation it was found that there was a loss of Rs 14.96 crore.
It was after this a recommendation for filing a case was submitted to chief secretary Tom Jose and the nod was received for a vigilance investigation.
The dredging equipment was bought from a company in Holland. A case has also been filed against this company.
Jacob Thomas was on suspension since December 2017 for not taking sanction before writing his service story. His suspension was extended twice, once for criticising the government and again in December 2018 for another six months over the corruption case.
The government has also initiated disciplinary action against Thomas under All-India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969.
The vigilance FIR made it clear that the contract helped the company get an “illegitimate gain” of Rs 2.76 crore and resulted in a total loss of Rs 14.96 crore to the government. He allegedly conspired with agents of the foreign firm to accord the private entity “illegitimate pecuniary gain,” it said.
The FIR also criticised Thomas for allegedly not including clauses that ensured that the firm did not take away the dredged mud in the contract.
As per the vigilance, the decision resulted in loss of money to the exchequer due to improper estimate, suspicious fixing of the annual maintenance contract in favour of the supplier and exclusion of the foreign vendor from paying taxes and duties.
The FIR accused Thomas of having put technical specifications of the required machinery to ensure that it was the same as the equipment the vendor hoped to supply.
