Question Antony in Lavalin case,Vijayan to court

CPM state secretary and Politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday moved a petition in the special court seeking a direction to the CBI to question Defence Minister A K Antony in the SNC-Lavalin case....

CPM state secretary and Politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday moved a petition in the special court seeking a direction to the CBI to question Defence Minister A K Antony in the SNC-Lavalin case. Vijayan,seventh accused in the case,said Antony should be arraigned as a witness as he was chief minister when his Cabinet colleague G Karthikeyan signed the MoU with the Canada-based company for renovation of three power projects in Kerala.

Vijayan said the MoU was converted into a supply agreement during Antonys term as CM in 1996. After Antony assumed office again in 2001,the Lavalin representative asked the government to convert the MoU into a contract for obtaining Rs 100 crore aid for the Malabar Cancer Centre (MCC). As per the MoU,Lavalin was supposed to mobilise Rs 100 crore from Canadian agencies for the MCC as a quid pro quo for the power renovation deal. The MoU lapsed during Antonys term. Antony should explain the reason for this,Vijayans counsel M K Damodaran said.

Pointing to a written communication between Lavalin and Karthikeyan,the petition said the hospital venture and the power renovation were two separate projects. The CBI special court posted the case for December 30,after seeking the CBI’s explanation on the petition.

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When the case came up on Thursday,Vijayan filed a leave petition in the court on health grounds. Last week,Vijayan had cancelled all his programmes until September 25. Another accused,

K G Rajashekharan Nair,was also granted a leave petition,while five of the accused,who appeared in the court,were granted bail. Although two Lavalin representatives were made accused in the case,none of them turned up in court.

Congress circles were surprised at Vijayans petition. This is the first time the CPM is trying to drag Antony into the case. It was Antony who had ordered the Vigilance probe into the deal in 2002. If Vijayan wanted Antony’s role probed,why did he not demand it earlier. The present strategy was only to create a smokescreen, said a senior leader.

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