Former I-T officer inducted into Kerala CM’s personal staff as reward for his clean chit in SNC-Lavalin case, alleges Shaun George

Shaun George, son of P.C. George whose Kerala Janapaksham (Secular) recently merged with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has alleged that a former official of the Income Tax (I-T) department who had given a clean chit to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the controversial SNC-Lavalin corruption case was inducted into his personal staff as a reward.

Shaun George, son of P.C. George whose Kerala Janapaksham (Secular) recently merged with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has alleged that a former official of the Income Tax (I-T) department who had given a clean chit to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the controversial SNC-Lavalin corruption case was inducted into his personal staff as a reward.

Mr. George, who also joined the BJP along with his father, on February 13 (Tuesday) alleged that R. Mohan, who is now special officer in Mr. Vijayan’s personal staff, had given a clean chit to the Chief Minister in his capacity as Additional Director of Income Tax, Director General of Income Tax, Kochi, in a report dated July 24, 2008.

Mr. George said that Mr. Mohan was inducted into Mr. Vijayan’s personal staff as a reward for giving a clean chit into the allegations related to the case.

The Kerala High Court had upheld the verdict of the Thiruvananthapuram CBI special court discharging Mr. Vijayan and two former Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) officials from the SNC-Lavalin case in August 2017.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that probed the case had alleged in its final report that Mr. Vijayan, who was Electricity Minister from May 1996 to October 1998, along with the other accused, had hatched a criminal conspiracy to award the supply contract for the modernisation and renovation of the Pallivasal, Sengulam and Panniyar hydroelectric projects to SNC-Lavalin at an exorbitant rate.