Palmolein case: No one can be acquitted, trial shall continue, says SC

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that no one could be acquitted from the palmolein import case at this stage and the trial shall continue. The apex court dismissed a petition filed by the three accused - JiJi Thomson, former Chief Secretary, P J Thomas, former Chief Vigilance Commissioner and Congress leader T H Mustafa - seeking an acquittal from the case. 

The court criticised the government pleader for trying to mislead the court. The counsel for V S Achuthanandan informed the court that the Kerala Government was trying to protect the accused by delaying the trial of the case. However, when the court inquired about the current state of the case, the counsel appeared to provide misleading facts. 

The government pleader claimed that a revision petition filed by the state government was pending before the High Court. However, the apex court, after going through the documents, found the claim to be false. Justice T S Thakur asked whether the counsel was trying to mislead the court and also asked from where such wrong information was being obtained. The court censured the state government and cautioned it not to repeat such acts. 

The case relates to import of 15,000 tonne of palmolein from a Malaysian company in 1991. The deal was made without floating a tender and this allegedly resulted in a loss of Rs 2.32 crore to state exchequer. 

• Palmolein case
• Kerala
• Supreme Court