Saiby Jose Kidangoor reinstated as President of Kerala High Court Advocates' Association

Advocate Saiby Jose Kidangoor has been reinstated as the president of the Kerala High Court Advocates' Association (KHCAA) nine months after he resigned from the post. .A unanimous decision in this regard was taken by the executive committee of the KHCAA on Tuesday after the High Court was informed that the State would be dropping the charges against him in an alleged bribery scam..Kidangoor was elected to the post in Decemeber 2022. In January, 2022, news broke of the alleged bribery scam and a first information report (FIR) was registered against him by the Kerala Police alleging that he had fleeced large sums of money from clients under the pretext of using it to bribe some judges of the Kerala High Court.He moved the High Court with a petition to quash the case against him but he resigned from the post of president during the pendency of the case. Since then, advocate S Biju was serving as the acting president of KHCAA..The case against Kidangoor arose after a lawyer put up a Facebook post in which he said that Kidangoor had been collecting large sums of money from some clients including some celebrity clients, saying that he would use it to bribe several judges including Justices A Muhamed Mustaque, PV Kunhikrishnan, Ziyad Rahman AA.Following the same, one of the judges Justice PV Kunhikrishnan, asked the High Court Registrar General to look into the allegations.The Registrar General furnished an initial report that he sent to the Chief Justice who in turn directed the vigilance wing of the High Court to initiate an enquiry.The vigilance wing's probe found prima facie evidence that Kidangoor had taken money from his clients by saying that he would use it to bribe some judges.The vigilance report was then sent to the Kerala Police, which in turn initiated its own investigation.According per a press release from the State Police, the initial investigation indicated that there was substance to the allegations against Kidangoor, leading to the registration of the FIR.Subsequently, a detailed probe was held by the Police which found no evidence against Kidangoor and on November 13, the State government informed the High Court that it would dropping all charges.Another case that was registered against Kidangoor was quashed by the High Court in August this year..Following these developments, Kidangoor was reinstated as president of KHCAA.