VK Ebrahim Kunju sanctioned advance, T O Sooraj says in bail petition
text_fieldsKochi: Former PWD secretary T O Sooraj blamed former PWD minister VK Ebrahim Kunju in the alleged corruption in the Palarivattom flyover construction. In the bail pail petition filed by Sooraj in the High Court on Tuesday, he said that it was Ebrahim Kunju who had taken the decision to make advance payments to the private company entrusted with the construction of the flyover.
Sooraj is the fourth accused in the case registered by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) in connection with alleged corruption in the flyover construction.
Apart from Sooraj, M.T. Thankachan, former assistant general manager of Kerala Roads and Bridges Development Corporation, has also filed a bail petition in the HC. The court has sought the response of the VACB in the matter. The main charges levelled by the VACB against Sooraj is that he provided 8.25 Cr to the construction company as advance payment though no such clause existed in the contract.
The RBDCK, the implementing agency, had received a request from the construction company for the advance payment.
The request was vetted by a slew of officials, including the deputy secretary and addition secretary, before it reached him. As the PWD secretary, he only signed the said application and submitted the same to the minister. The minister then issued the order for making the advance payment of Rs. 8.25 crore to the company.
According to Sooraj, he later instructed to extract an interest at two percent higher than the savings bank rate from the company for the advance payment. Sooraj also pointed out that a Rs. 25 crore advance payment was made to the company constructing the Edapally flyover without charging any interest. Sooraj and three others were arrested by the VACB on August 30 in connection with the case.
Sooraj and Thankachan in their bail petitions stated that they were in jail for the pat 18 days and that they should be granted bail since the interrogation of both of them had been completed.