In a huge blow to the Congress-led UDF in Kerala, a judicial commission has indicted former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy along with his personal office staff in the multi-crore solar panel scam, holding they all had "assisted" prime accused Saritha S Nair in "cheating" customers.
The Justice G Sivarajan commission's four-volume 1,073-page report, which probed the scam, was tabled by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the state assembly on Thursday at a special session and the copies were made available to the media.
The report also includes details of the controversial letter written by Saritha on July 19, 2013, in which she had levelled serious sexual and corruption charges against a dozen Congress leaders including state and union ministers and two senior IPS officers.
The commission found that there was "substance" in the allegation that Chandy. Saritha had also alleged in the letter that she had paid Rs 2.16 crore to Chandy and his personal staff on different occasions for setting up solar projects.
Here are the major charges in the report:
Oommen Chandy
Aryadan Mohammed
Adoor Prakash
AP Anil Kumar
KC Venugopal
Jose K Mani
SS Palanimanickam
K Padmakumar
Though the senior government pleader had submitted that sex was not the subject matter for inquiry by the judicial panel, the commission, however, felt that if sex and sexual satisfaction are sought by a public servant or somebody for getting something done by a public servant in discharge of his official duties, certainly, the position is different.
"In this case, sex and sexual satisfaction are connected with public servants who are none other than the head of the administration, the chief minister, power minister and other ministers etc named in the letter," according to the commission.
'Is this solar report or Saritha report?' Chandy lashes out at LDF
Earlier, tabling the report in the house, CM Pinarayi said the government would initiate legal proceedings, including under the Prevention of Corruption Act, against all persons who are found by the commission as having indulged in corruption.
The "solar scam" had rocked the Chandy government before it lost power in May last year after reports surfaced in June 2013 that three of the chief minister's office staff were involved in alleged duping of several persons of crores of rupees by Saritha Nair and her accomplice Biju Radhakrishnan by offering solar panel solutions.