Achuthanandan, Vijayan

Feb. 4: The Lavalin controversy today sucked CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan into deeper trouble with a former Kerala vigilance director telling a local newspaper he had not given a clean chit to anyone.

Upendra Verma said there had been no question of clearing anyone as the probe had been transferred to the CBI before the vigilance department had started an inquiry.

“There was no such issue because vigilance had only conducted a preliminary inquiry. The case was transferred to the CBI before it could start an inquiry, at which stage possibly the involvement of more people, other than the eight mentioned in the initial report, would have surfaced.”

Vijayan is the ninth accused in the case relating to the award of a Rs 374.5-crore contract to Canadian firm SNC Lavalin.

The statement has come as a huge embarrassment to the CPM with Kerala home minister K. Balakrishnan having earlier alleged that the Congress used the CBI to implicate Vijayan after he was cleared by the vigilance department.

The CPM, in a spot of bother since the CBI sought sanction to prosecute Vijayan and chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan said he would go by the Constitution in giving the go-ahead, today came under return fire from the Congress.

Getting back at Balakrishnan for his earlier statement, leader Oommen Chandy dared him to publish the vigilance report if he was so sure it had exonerated Vijayan.

“The fact is the report mentions Vijayan’s role. But vigilance suggested a further detailed probe to get at the truth. So, the clean chit is non-existent,” Chandy said.

A youth today flung his slippers at Vijayan in a north Kerala town as he led the CPM march to Thiruvananthapuram for “a safe India and a prosperous Kerala”.