Gave Rs. 1.9 crore bribe to Chandy: Saritha

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has refused to undergo a polygraph test while deposing for almost 14 hours before a judicial commission in connection with solar scam.

The chief minister’s stand has all along been that the state has not suffered any material loss in the scam that involved private individuals and some officials, including those from his office who have since been removed.

Rejecting charges that he and his office had helped Team Solar Company that committed the fraud, Chandy had said that after the scam broke out, the government had taken steps to bring the alleged “fraudsters” – Biju Radhakrishnan and Saritha S Nair – before law.

Deposing before a single-judge commission inquiring into the scam, Saritha said that an amount of Rs 1.90 crore was given to Chandy in two tranches in New Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram. I sat with Kuruvilla in the auto…I handed over Rs 1.10 crore to Kuruvilla.

She said Oommen Chandy’s PA Jikkumon Jacob had demanded Rs7 crore as bribe of which Rs1 crore and 80 lakh was handed over to Kuruvilla.

She also raised bribe charges against senior Congress leader and Power Minister Aryadan Muhammed.

The Minister’s staff demanded for Rs 2 crore bribe and she gave 40 lakh to the staff in two installments. “I was arrested 15 days after giving the second instalment”.

Though Chandy has denied the allegations pulling himself out of the quagmire into which he has fallen would not be an easy job at this point. “A cheque of Rs2 lakh that she gave for CM’s relief fund itself bounced, I don’t know how she claims to have crores with her. Let me repeat what I told the Solar Commission, she has not benefited a paisa from the government”. “I was just asking her about that”, Ravi added.

Will the people believe in her allegations? “The special investigation team formed was the one to protect Chandy”.

Three personal staff members of the chief minister were suspended after investigations, but Mr Chandy has denied any direct link.

His comments came after Nair deposed first before the judicial commission probing the case. She said that she is an entrepreneur who is waiting for her business to start but the situation has gone to such an extent that she is now being labeled as a cheater in public.