: Ending speculation that the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government would act tough on senior officials at the public sector Malabar Cements Ltd (MCL) in the wake of the recently registered Vigilance cases for corruption and misuse of power, Industry Minister E.P. Jayarajan on Monday said the government would not engage in any action affecting adversely the performance of the profit-making enterprise.
Action would be taken against the officials only if the allegations are proved in trial courts, he said in reply to questions from mediapersons.
Minister visits factory
The Minister was interacting with the media after visiting the factory along with Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes Welfare Minister A.K. Balan. It was following a High Court intervention that cases were registered against company managing director K. Padmakumar and other senior officials of the company. Mr. Padmakumar is facing charges in four corruption cases while company deputy marketing manager G. Venugopal, former managing director Sundaramurthy, deputy manager (Materials) G Namasivayam, finance manager K.Narendranathan, deputy manager Muraleedharan, legal officer Prakash Joseph and senior officer S. Vadivelan are also facing investigation. Controversial industrialist V.M. Radhakrishnan, who supplies packing materials to the company, is also facing Vigilance probe.
Meanwhile, the Minister said the government would not allow corruption to resurface in the functioning of the factory. He has also promised to take steps to increase production efficiency of the company.
