Solar scam: Saritha Nair accuses Kerala CM Oommen Chandy of accepting Rs 1.90 crore bribe

KOCHI: The corruption-tainted UDF Government’s attempts to revamp its image before the Assembly election suffered a major setback with the solar-scam accused Saritha Nair alleging that the Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had accepted a bribe of Rs 1.90 crore from her.

Deposing before Justice G Shivarajan Commission probing the solar scam, Saritha Nair said that she had met the chief minister several times.

She said that Rs 1.10 crore was paid on December 27, 2011, in Delhi to Thomas Kuruvila, known to be the trusted person of the chief minister. The remaining Rs 80 lakh was paid at Thiruvananthapuram to Thomas Kuruvila, she said.

Saritha Nair also alleged that she paid a bribe of Rs 40 lakh to the electricity minister Aryadan Mohammed. The minister asked for Rs 2 crore but was finally paid Rs 40 lakh in two installments. The amount was paid to the minister’s personal assistant in his presence.

Saritha Nair’s deposition is in line with the reports by a section of the media that she had access to the chief minister and had met him several times. As against this, the chief minister had said before the commission that he met her only 2 or 3 times.