Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan yesterday adopted a defiant stand and insisted his anti-corruption chief had the mandate to go ahead with his job in the face of growing resentment among his top aides.
However, he also termed the ‘raid’ conducted by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) headed by his ‘blue-eyed boy’ Jacob Thomas, the second top-ranking officer in the police force, on additional chief secretary (finance) K M Abraham’s apartment as unwanted.
The VACB, vowing to root out corruption at the top continued its raids for the second day, and the latest target was Tom Jose, an additional chief secretary (labour and skills).
VACB officials conducted extensive raids on Jose’s office at the secretariat, apartments here and in Kochi, his wife’s house in Irinjalakuda and friend’s house in Pala.
Jose is also president of the association of Kerala-cadre of the elite Indian Administrative Service (IAS). The raids come a day after he chaired its meeting that registered its protest against the “inspection” on Abraham’s modest apartment in the city.
Both, Abraham and Jose, are under the scanner for wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income. Thomas is also facing charges of financial irregularities and taking up a plum job while on government payroll.
Opposition leaders said the chief minister was playing a dangerous game by pitting top officials against each other at the cost of governance.
“What this government did to an honest officer was very bad,” said former chief minister Oommen Chandy, whom Abraham helped to prepare his last budget.
Abraham came to the limelight when he was a whole-time director of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). He is credited with cracking down on the Sahara business group and landing its head Subrata Roy in jail.
In his letter to the chief minister, Abraham claims the VACB team apologised to his wife, who was alone at home when they raided the apartment in the city, stating they were merely flowing “orders from above.”
“(It) clearly suggests that there was an ulterior motive on the part of Jacob Thomas,” the letter added. “(He) was acting vengefully against me in retaliation for me having recommended disciplinary action against him in the finance inspection report for the irregularities committed by him and causing a loss to the public exchequer.”
Jose, who faces charges of amassing Rs11.9mn from 2010 to 2016, said there was an orchestrated move against him.
“I have been furnishing my property statements every year, and the home secretary had cleared me of all allegations. I have no wealth disproportionate to my source of income,” he said.
“The present case is based on a complaint by a person with a criminal background,” Abraham alleged.
The additional director general of police (intelligence) R Sreelekha had recently filed a report with the home secretary that the complainant was facing charges of child abuse and blackmailing a former minister with litigation.
“Some are trying to smoke Thomas out,” Vijayan told the Assembly when the opposition accused him of losing confidence in both the bureaucrats and the police.
“We will look into Abraham’s complaint and whether the officers conducted the inspection following the procedures.”
He added Abraham was a good officer. Vijayan assured the House that the VACB would not henceforth conduct preliminary enquiries “directly”.