Salve wins for Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan in Lavalin Case [Read Judgment]

The Kerala High Court yesterday discharged Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and two others from criminal charges levelled against them in the SNC Lavalin corruption case. The judgement was delivered by Justice P Ubaid..Senior Advocate Harish Salve appeared for Vijayan in the case..The case emerged out of allegations that Vijayan and the other accused had played a role in the negotiation and handing over of contracts concerning the development of three hydro power projects by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) to unduly favour Canadian based company, SNC Lavalin..A report had been made by the Principal Account General (PAG) alleging serious violations of prescribed procedure, excess unauthorised payments and substantial loss to the state exchequer on account Lavalin’s involvement. This sparked off an investigation by the State Vigilance and Corruption Board, ultimately materialising in a CBI inquiry..Vijayan was named as the seventh accused in the case. The others discharged are Former Chairman of KSEB, K Mohanachandran, named the first accused and LA Francis, former secretary to the Electricity Board. named the eighth accused. Whereas the three accused were admittedly not directly involved in the initial execution of contracts between KSEB and Lavalin, the CBI alleged that they were involved in a conspiracy later on, for which purpose they misused their official positions to allow substantial unlawful gains for SNC Lavalin..Following the final report of the CBI, the trial court discharged the eight accused from the case. The instant case arose out of a revision petition filed by the CBI with the Kerala High Court..Before delving into the merits of the petition, the Hon’ble justice made some scathing observations to expose the “defiled civic sense of our society.” He has revealed that even as the case was reserved for judgement, attempts were made to influence the course of the judgement..“I got some anonymous letters; some containing communalised political concerns and some politicised communal concerns. The object of everybody who sent those letters was just to create some sort of prejudice in the mind of the court. This approach of the society is highly condemnable … Everybody’s concern is to make political gain or communal gain. This sort of approach is not at all conducive to a healthy, rational, civilised, educated and cultured democratic society. Let this be thought of seriously by every member of society.”.After considering the materials on record, the judge proceeded to affirm the trial court’s order of discharge as regards Vijayan and the two others on the ground that there was no sufficient material on record to show that, prima facie, they were guilty of the crimes accused of..The court also criticised the CBI for adopting a pick and choose policy in prosecuting Vijayan, particularly given that there was no evidence advanced as regards unlawful gains made by Vijayan on account of his alleged crime..Read judgement below.