Thiruvananthapuram, Saturday 13 June 2009: The CPM State secretariat, on Friday, decided to take the legal course in the SNC-Lavalin corruption case.

It expressed confidence that party State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan would be able to prove his innocence in the case in which he has been listed by the Central Bureau of Investigation as the seventh accused.

The secretariat decision came even as both the CPI and the RSP publicly sought a legal rather than a political option to deal with the situation arising from the Governor’s decision to sanction prosecution of Pinarayi in the case and the filing of charge sheet on Thursday.

While the CPI State secretariat said the party had all along taken the position that legal option was the best to deal with corruption charges, RSP general secretary T.J. Chandrachoodan went a step further and said, “the prosecution move must be met legally rather than politically.”

The CPM secretariat said in a statement that the party was not unduly worried about the prospects of its legal options. It would be possible to question in courts all legal issues, including those relating to the prosecution sanction given by the Governor. More significantly, it said the party would make all efforts to expose the political conspiracy behind the SNC-Lavalin case and according to Leninist organisational principles, tackle all attempts to destroy the party.

The CPM State leadership said the State government decision not to permit grant of prosecution sanction in the case was not arbitrary. The decision was taken in an independent manner after getting the Advocate-General’s advice as stipulated by law and studying the documents based on which the CBI had concluded that Vijayan was prima facie guilty.

The secretariat termed the rejection of the Cabinet’s advice by the Governor ‘unfortunate,’ and said several leading legal experts had expressed the view that it would lead to several legal issues and controversies.

(Agency)