Team Solar had a liability of Rs 3 crore, says Saritha

KOCHI: While Saritha Nair had told the solar scam inquiry commission earlier that she paid a bribe of Rs 1.90 crore meant for the CM, she said on Tuesday that Rs 3 crore was the total liability when Team Solar operations fell apart and cases came to be filed by investors.
Saritha revealed this during cross-examination by S Sreekumar, the senior lawyer who represented chief minister Oommen Chandy before the Justice G Sivarajan commission.
The lawyer has also marked as evidence a prosecution statement in the high court that Rs 5.5 crore of the Rs 6 crore obtained by Saritha and Biju Radhakrishnan after cheating investors were spent in pursuit of a luxurious life.
During cross-examination, Saritha also said Team Solar Renewable Energy Solutions Pvt Ltd had around 38 permanent employees at its office in Ernakulam. Rent for its two buildings came to Rs 42,000. Besides, all expenses related to a house in which she lived with her family and two company staff were borne by the company and deducted from her salary. She had a salary account that was begun by the company and doesn't have a personal banking account even now.
The company had 12 banks accounts by the time Biju stopped coming to office in August 2012 and the balances in the accounts were found to be low when the statements were taken.
A case was filed by Alex Mathew of Kottayam when a subsidy cheque of Rs 6,500, issued on December 26, 2012, bounced and she had entrusted a lawyer to settle the case. She also came to know that Biju built a Rs 2-crore house for Shalu Menon, she said.
The commission, on Tuesday, hinted that its final report may get delayed as more persons have to be examined with new information surfacing. Saritha handed over a pen-drive in a sealed cover and told the commission that she has more evidence to submit.
She said that even though a laptop, mobile phones, and CDs were seized by police when she was arrested, they were not recorded in the seizure mahassar and produced in court. She was arrested on the direction issued by then IG K Padmakumar and it is believed that the videos that were circulated on WhatsApp came out through the IPS officer.