The local self-government department has issued a sanction to prosecute R Lalu, former Secretary of the Greater Cochin Development Authority, in the wake of the report filed by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau. VACB Ernakulam has reported that Lalu, while working as secretary of the GCDA, abused his official position and connived with Simon Varghese to commit fraud in connection with a project named "Mundamveli cage fish farming."

According to the VACB, the project was launched without conducting any feasibility study and violating the tender procedure. Simon was selected as the consultant for the project in violation of the norms. In July 2015, an agreement was signed between Lalu and Simon with the provision of loss liability fixed on GCDA. An advance amount of Rs 10.8 lakh was released to Simon Varghese. Later, Simon reported to the secretary that the fish he bought from the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture were dead due to overgrowth. 

VACB noted that Lalu again sanctioned Rs 5 lakh to Simon Varghese without checking the veracity of the claim and violated the tender conditions. He also sanctioned Rs 50,000 as a supervisory charge to Simon Varghese. As per the findings of the VACB, Simon Varghese obtained an undue pecuniary advantage of Rs 16.3 lakh, and the GCDA suffered a loss in the project. 

LSGD Principal Secretary Sharmila Mary Joseph has issued an order allowing R Lalu to be prosecuted for the offences he committed under the Prevention of Corruption Act.