Trivandrum: The Keralam government on Wednesday sanctioned a preliminary inquiry by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) into alleged corruption involving Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar during his tenure as the state’s Public Works Department (PWD) secretary in 2006.
The action follows a fresh bribery complaint filed by Sajan VO, a former contractor associated with the Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP), accusing Kumar, a 1988-batch Kerala cadre IAS officer, of demanding a bribe of ₹2 crore to clear pending project bills worth ₹14 crore.
Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said he had granted permission to the VACB under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act to initiate a preliminary investigation after obtaining a legal opinion. The alleged irregularities in the KSTP project are already under the vigilance department’s scrutiny.
Chennithala said the complaint contained serious allegations that warranted a detailed examination. He added that the VACB director would decide the course of the investigation, including whether an FIR should be registered.
There was no immediate response from Kumar to the allegations.
According to Sajan, the alleged bribery incident dates back to the upgradation of MC Road under the World Bank-funded KSTP project in 2006. The work had been awarded to PATI-BEL, an Indo-Malaysian consortium, while Sajan was engaged as a sub-contractor to supply construction materials.
Sajan told Hindustan Times that he regularly interacted with Lee See Been, the consortium’s chief project officer, and other officials during the project.
He alleged that payments were initially released on time but were subsequently stopped. When contractors raised the issue with the consortium, Been reportedly informed them that four cheques totalling Rs 14 crore were pending with Kumar, who was then serving as the state PWD secretary.
Sajan further claimed that Been later told him Kumar had demanded ₹2 crore to clear the outstanding bills. According to the contractor, PATI-BEL officials in Malaysia were unwilling to pay the alleged bribe to keep the project running.
Sajan also alleged that Been subsequently diverted a portion of the funds from an ongoing PATI-BEL project in Bengaluru to make payments to contractors in Kerala.
However, with the pending bills remaining uncleared and the Bengaluru project eventually suspended, Been was reportedly summoned back to Malaysia by his company. Sajan said the Malaysian official was under considerable pressure at the time.
On November 11, 2006, Been died by suicide at a park in Kuala Lumpur. Sajan claimed that PATI-BEL officials later informed him that Been had named Kumar in suicide notes addressed to his wife and his supervisor at the company.
Following Been’s death, Kumar was removed from the post of PWD secretary and a vigilance investigation was ordered into the matter.
Sajan has alleged that the earlier investigation was deliberately undermined to give Kumar a clean chit. Kumar subsequently went on deputation to the Union government in Delhi.
The fresh complaint has now prompted the Kerala government to authorise another preliminary inquiry into the allegations dating back nearly two decades. The VACB will determine the next course of action based on its findings.