The Vigilance and Enquiry Court here on Tuesday posted the palmolein case,in which Central Vigilance Commissioner P J Thomas is an accused,to February 11. Earlier this month,the Supreme Court had vacated the stay obtained on the trial by the late Congress leader K Karunakaran,who was the first accused in the corruption case. Vigilance legal adviser R S Jyothi produced the death certificate of Karunakaran. Earlier,the court had obtained the communication from the Supreme Court lifting the stay on the trial. Since the court was yet to get back the documents related to the case,Judge S Jagadeesh posted the case to February 11. Giving indications that the trial in the19-year-old case would get further delayed,serving IAS official and fifth accused Jiji Thomson on Tuesday filed a discharge petition. Thomson,a special director-general with the Commonwealth Organising Committee,had been the director of the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation,which had imported the palmolein from Malaysia. In his petition,the Kerala-cadre IAS official challenged the proceedings,citing absence of sanction for prosecution under section 197 of CrPC and 19(1) of Prevention of Corruption Act. His counsel,Rajagopalan Nair,said that all the proceedings related to the oil import like the issue of a government order and the signing of the MoU followed the Cabinet decision. The import was therefore,not the work of the civil servants. Moreover,the Kerala Civil Supplies Corporation after audit has maintained that they have made a profit of Rs 8 crore from the import of palmolein. Thus the entire case is devoid of merit,evidence and unfounded,he argued. Another accused and former additional chief secretary,Zacharia Mathew,was present in the court.
