Thomas faces criminal conspiracy charges

PJ Thomas, whose appointment to the post of the Central Vigilance Commissioner was struck down by the Supreme Court is facing criminal conspiracy charges in the palmolein case.

Thomas, who was food and civil supplies secretary in Kerala, was indicted as the eighth accused in the case.

He had been summoned to the Inquiry Commissioner and Special Judge (Vigilance) in Thiruvananthapuram in April, 2003 and appearing before the court, had taken bail. 

Thus in a perverse turn of events an officer on bail in a corruption case held of the highest post in the vigilance machinery of the country.

The Indian Express first reported that the stand taken by prime minister Manmohan Singh and home minister P Chidambaram that Thomas had been give a clean chit in the palmolein case was wrong. The newspaper reported on 9 September 2010 that the CVC was still an accused in the corruption case.

The Supreme Court's intervention has thus prevented an accused in a corruption from the highest office of the state's vigilance machinery. Had the apex court not intervened, a precedence would have been set to allow tainted officials to stake claim to the much coveted post.

The palmolein scam involved the import of 15,000 tonnes of palmolein from the Singapore-based Power and Energy Corporation to Kerala under the 'rupee clearance scheme', during the tenure of the K Karunakaran-led Congress ministry from 1991-95. The investigation revealed that the state exchequer suffered a Rs2.3 crore loss in the deal.

The irregularities were first highlighted by the opposition leader V S Achuthanandan in 1993 and subsequently a report by the comptroller and auditor general of India also pointed out corruption in the palmolein import.