A Rs 1,600-crore scam, a mystery suicide and India's top poll officer: The 2006 case involving CEC Gyanesh Kumar
The case dates back to the Kerala State Transport Project, a World Bank-funded road programme launched in the early 2000s. It includes a Rs 216-crore contract, delays over land acquisition, a demand for higher project costs and a series of Vigilance inquiries.
New Delhi: Two decades after a Rs 1,600-crore World Bank highway project dissolved into corruption claims and the tragic suicide of a Malaysian project manager, its ghost has returned to haunt India's top election official. The Kerala government has reopened a Vigilance probe against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The case dates back to his tenure as the state's Public Works Department (PWD) secretary.
Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala ordered reinvestigation on October 4 after Congress leader Malayinkeezhu Venugopalan submitted a complaint. "I found that there is substance in the complaint after examining it," the minister said.
He directed Vigilance Director Manoj Abraham to conduct a detailed inquiry and take legal action if the findings support it.
The revival of this ghost could not come at a worse time for Kumar. The poll watchdog chief is facing Opposition criticism over the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Leaders from Opposition parties, students organistions and civil society groups have led calls for his immediate resignation.
What was Kerala State Transport project?
The KSTP was planned as a major road modernisation programme. It had a budget of Rs 1,600 crore and was financed through a World Bank loan. It covered the renovation and modernisation of about 1,600 km of major roads under the state PWD. The project was first proposed during the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M)-led government between 1996 and 2001.
A joint venture between Kerala-based Bhageeratha Engineering and Malaysian firm PATI won work worth Rs 216 crore. A major part of the contract was for upgrading the main road between Thiruvananthapuram and Angamaly.
The project began in December 2002 under the Congress-led government. Land for the road work had not been acquired when the contractor was given the project. The land acquisition notification was issued only in 2004. By October 2006, PATI-BEL told the government that it could not finish the work within the original deadline because of the delay in acquiring land.
The contractor then sought a 30% increase in the contract value as construction costs rose. The finance department, which was then headed by Thomas Isaac in the CPI(M) government, rejected the demand and sought the World Bank permission to re-tender the work.
How did the 2006 suicide enter the case?
Lee See Been, the chief project manager working for the PATI-BEL, was handling the project when the dispute intensified. The company had submitted bills worth Rs 18 crore in 2006. Kerala Legislative Assembly records showed that company officials had approached ministers several times for payment.
Lee returned to Malaysia and died by suicide in Kuala Lumpur on November 11, 2006. Reports at the time said he had left a suicide note addressed to the company director and his wife. It allegedly accused PWD officials of seeking bribes for clearing bills and named Kumar, who was then the PWD secretary. The note has never been made public.
The claim about the alleged suicide letter has also been questioned over the years. Former Intelligence ADGP Jacob Punnose said the Kerala Police had not seen the purported suicide note. "There were legal restraints that prevented the Kerala Police from accessing the note. In addition, the Malaysian police did not reach out to us as part of the probe," he said.
Kumar was removed, probe ordered
About a month after Lee's death, the CPI(M) government removed Kumar as PWD secretary. It also ordered a Vigilance inquiry into the allegations. Kumar was not given another state posting and later went on central deputation to New Delhi.
The KSTP itself faced several investigations. Assembly records cited by Onmanorama show that four Vigilance inquiries were ordered in 2006 over different aspects of the project. These included the appointment of foreign consultants, construction-related lapses, valuation of buildings that had to be demolished and alleged excess payment for maintenance work. Most of the inquiries did not reach the prosecution stage.
In March 2010, then Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan told the assembly that two KSTP-related Vigilance investigations were still underway. The status of the inquiry into the allegations surrounding Kumar did not lead to a prosecution.
The Kerala government has now sought to investigate why the old probe did not progress. A legal opinion obtained by the state prosecution department has said that the passage of time does not by itself prevent a further investigation into corruption allegations. It also said an earlier inquiry could be reopened if circumstances justify further investigation.
What happened to the disputed road contract?
The KSTP contract was cancelled in early 2007 because the delay risked action from the World Bank, which had financed the project. The government invited new bids, but no company came forward.
Ultimately, the state chose to hand the contract right back to PATI-BEL. The company was given an additional Rs 72 crore on top of the original Rs 216-crore contract. The decision was criticised by the Congress, which was then in Opposition. Then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy asked the government to explain why the PATI-BEL was given the work again while investigations were pending.
Records also refer to a CAG finding of wasteful expenditure and fraud amounting to Rs 92.7 crore in connection with the KSTP.
The reopened inquiry will now examine the old allegations, the handling of the KSTP contracts and the circumstances in which the earlier investigations stopped. The state has also sought to establish what records from the 2006 cases are still available to investigators.