A fresh case in connection with the alleged irregularities during the tenure of the Left Democratic Front in the city Corporation has been filed before the Vigilance Inquiry Commissioner and Special Judge here.
Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) Deputy Superintendent of Police (Dy.SP) K. Ashraf registered the case on Wednesday, with the permission of Vigilance Director Vinson M. Paul.
The case relates to misappropriation of funds allocated for constructing a community hall at Kovoor in the city. The project failed to take off.
M. Bhaskaran, the former Mayor; P.T. Abdul Latheef, Deputy Mayor; Johny Sebastian, former Corporation Secretary; and Preeja Padmanabhan, principal consultant, Paul and Associates Architect and Engineering, Kozhikode, have been named respondents. They have been charged under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Sections 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence or giving false information to screen offender) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
The first information report has been filed on the basis of a petition moved by K.P. Vijayakumar, convener, Kozhikode Corporation Anti-Corruption Campaign Committee, before the Vigilance Court. As many as 15 cases pertaining to corruption in the city Corporation are being investigated by the VACB. Mr. Bhaskaran has been named accused in 12 cases and Prof. Latheef in three.
Probe incompleteSo far, investigators have not completed probe in any of the cases. The High Court of Kerala has stayed the probe in eight cases after the respondents moved petitions in this regard. But the interim stay has been vacated in three cases. A final decision on the remaining cases will be taken up in December.
The project for constructing the community hall was envisaged during 2006-07. An estimate of Rs.3.25 crore was prepared for the project. Subsequently, a sum of Rs.25 lakh was sanctioned by the Corporation council in the annual budget.
The steering committee of the Corporation on May 31, 2008, asked the firm Paul Associates to prepare a plan and estimate for the project. Even though this was a detailed project, mandatory formalities were not followed. An amount of Rs.1.80 lakh was paid to the firm and Rs.55,000 to the Government Engineering College here as scrutiny charge of the plan.
