Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan acquitted in SNC-Lavalin case

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday acquitted chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and two others in the SNC-Lavalin case. Politically. the verdict would help Vijayan emerge stronger by coming out of the shadow of corruption that had fallen on him since the last two decades.

Accepting the verdict by a CBI Court in 2013, which acquitted him and rejected the CBI charge-sheet, the court ruled that the allegations against him were not based on facts.

The court observed that though other electricity ministers were also involved in the decision, the CBI had only mentioned Pinarayi Vijayan in the charge sheet. SNC-Lavalin case refers to an alleged Rs 374-crore scam that happened two decades ago in connection with the modernisation of three power projects in Kerala namely Pallivasal, Shenkulam and Panniar.

Pinarayi Vijayan, who was then the electricity minister, was accused of making monetary gains out of the deal with SNC-Lavalin.