Former minister found guilty in corruption case

Thiruvananthapuram: The 23-year-old Idamalayar power project corruption case yesterday culminated with the Supreme Court of India finding former Kerala minister Balakrishna Pillai guilty of the charges.

The Supreme Court handed him one year's rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs10,000 (Dh800). The same punishment was handed to two other accused in the case, R. Ramabhadran Nair, a former chairman of the Kerala State Electricity Board, and P.K. Sajeevan, the contractor for the project.

Reacting to the verdict of the apex court, Pillai said he had not expected such a judgment, and that he would not be filing a review petition.

Denial

"I did not expect this. When the summons comes, I will accept it", Pillai said, adding that, "I have not done anything wrong, it was because of me that the Idamalayar project came up".

Pillai is a former state power minister, and founder of the Kerala Congress (B) party. The apex court verdict yesterday, by a bench comprising Justices P. Sathasivam and B.S. Chauhan, reverses an earlier acquittal order by the Kerala High Court.

The prosecution case was that Pillai, in his capacity as electricity minister in the 1980s, had caused a loss to the tune of Rs20 million to the Kerala State Electricity Board by awarding contracts for construction of a power tunnel and surge shaft of the Idamalayar hydro-electric power project, at high rates.

There were 11 accused in the case, and eight of them had earlier been acquitted by a special court.

The verdict is considered a timely boost for the prospects of the Left Democratic Front government in Kerala ahead of the elections.