Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government has ordered an investigation by its finance department against the chief minister's former principal secretary M Sivasankar apparently to avoid a probe by the Vigilance & Anti-Corruption Bureau.
The financial inspection wing has been tasked with conducting further investigations against the suspended bureaucrat after a two-member committee comprising Chief Secretary Vishwas Mehta and Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) Rajesh Kumar Singh found that Swapna Suresh was appointed through a consultancy firm in Space Park on Sivasankar’s recommendation.
She recently lost the Space Park job in the wake of the gold smuggling case and with the ongoing probe Sivasankar’s close links to her came to light.
The probe has been ordered as the misguided appointment of Swapna has resulted in a financial loss for the state exchequer. After this became clear in the preliminary investigation, a vigilance probe would have been inevitable. Legal experts pointed out that the case is fit for a Vigilance investigation. However, that is only possible with the government’s permission.
The financial inspection wing is controlled by an active member of the Secretariat Employees' Association, a service organisation that is said to lean towards the CPM.
The government has also appointed the person, a party loyalist, as the managing director of the public sector undertaking, Kerala State Cashew Workers Apex Industrial Co-operative Society (CAPEX).
The talk within the finance ministry is that if this group investigates the case, the report will be in favour of the government.
Earlier, Minister EP Jayarajan barely escaped a similar probe into the appointment of a relative to a public sector undertaking. Public money was not wasted then as the appointment was immediately cancelled.
In Swapna’s appointment, the Vigilance can file a corruption case because she had been drawing a salary from the government for months.
But, now, if anyone approaches court seeking a Vigilance inquiry, the government will point out that it has already asked the financial inspection wing to look into it, and it can, thus, avoid a vigilance probe.
Even though Sivasankar has been suspended from service, the memo of charges against him has not yet been issued. The rules state that the memo must be issued within 90 days of suspension, failing which Sivasankar can get back to service.
