Ever escalating corruption

Vigilance Director Vincent M Paul has divulged a series of statements over corruption enveloping the state commenting that a set of politicians, government officials and criminals were responsible for its escalation.

His statements that come amidst the mounting graft allegations against the Chief Minister as well as his Ministers and their strong denial of the charges, are significant. The senior official said that the politicians accused were not embarrassed or mortified at the charges but swagger with pride and that it took only 4-5 days of imprisonment however big the accusations were. There are about 1200 cases across four courts in Kerala and they are likely to take time to get settled. The Director who disclosed the present predicament afflicting the system, revealed the statements while speaking at a corruption eradication program recently. According to the vigilance reports, around 6o percent of the people in the state are directly involved in graft.

The Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau on Wednesday decided to hold a ‘quick verification’ probe against Excise minister K Babu, who face bribery charges in the Bar scam. Finance Minister K M Mani has also been under the cloud after bar hotelier Biju Ramesh accused that a bribe of Rs 10 crore had allegedly been paid to the Minister for favours. Paul said that corruption stains the government as well as politics pointing out the causes and the means by which the vice creeps into the system and provided solutions for the delinquency. There have been several controversies during the tenure of Chandy government and it has been mired in the corruption scandal for a while now. The Chief Minister as well as other politicians accused of charges including the recent Bar Bribe and land scam issue, skillfully ignore the allegations and objections against them. Evading the accusations, hampering the investigative procedures and pressurizing the officials and the agencies who probe the matters sincerely have all led to the augmentation of corruption in the state.

The corrupt take advantage of the helplessness and imprudence of the people. The people responsible for resolving the matter laugh off the allegations and refuse to resign citing lack of evidence. According to the Vigilance Director, the functioning of the investigative agencies that are to curb corruption doesn’t have freedom of action. His statements assume relevance due to the reports of the Chief Minister’s office and the Home Ministry pressurizing the Vigilance department in the Bar Bribe scam in which three senior Ministers have been accused. He concluded that since the politicians wouldn’t be undergoing a self-analysis, it was in the hands of the people to choose their representatives cautiously.