Kerala Vigilance records statement in 2006 bribery allegation against CEC Gyanesh Kumar
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Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau has begun a preliminary inquiry into allegations that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar sought a Rs 2 crore bribe while serving as secretary of the state Public Works Department in 2006.
As part of the inquiry, Vigilance officers on Monday recorded the statement of V.O. Sajan, a material supplier who worked with PATI-BEL, the contracting consortium that carried out works under the Kerala State Transport Project.
The fresh examination follows an order by Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala in October for a renewed probe into the long-standing allegation. The order was based on a complaint filed by Congress leader Malainkeezhu Gopalakrishnan.
The allegation dates back to the death of Lee See Been, a Malaysian national and chief project manager of PATI-BEL, who died by suicide in 2006. Media reports at the time alleged that Gyanesh Kumar, then a PWD secretary, had demanded a bribe to release pending bills and that Lee had named him in a suicide note.
The Vigilance had earlier closed the case after finding no irregularities in the project. The contents of Lee’s suicide note were never made public by his family.
Weeks after the Vigilance was directed to reopen the matter, Sajan, a resident of Chadayamangalam, approached the Vigilance director with a complaint seeking an inquiry. He alleged that Gyanesh Kumar had sought Rs 2 crore from Lee to release pending payments.
Speaking to TNM over the phone, Sajan said Lee had told him about the alleged demand. Sajan supplied materials to PATI-BEL after the consortium began construction of the Main Central Road in 2001.
“PATI-BEL’s camp office in Chadayamangalam was close to my house. My friends and I had a contract to supply materials and machinery. We used to get payment on time until it stopped abruptly one day,” Sajan said.
He said that when he and others went to Lee’s office to seek payment, they were told that four bills worth around Rs 14 crore had been held up by the PWD secretary. According to Sajan, Lee and another PATI-BEL engineer, Sukumaran, told him that Gyanesh Kumar had sought a Rs 2 crore bribe.
Months later, Lee returned to Malaysia, where he died by suicide on November 11, 2006, at a park near Kuala Lumpur. He reportedly left two suicide notes—one addressed to his wife and another to company director Ross Lee.
Sajan said Sukumaran later told him about Lee’s death and the notes. “He told me he had seen the notes and Gyanesh was named in it,” Sajan said.
Sajan claimed he learned only recently that Gyanesh Kumar had been given a clean chit in the earlier inquiry. “Had the Vigilance taken statements from PATI-BEL employees like Sukumaran, then they could have cracked the case,” he said.
TNM independently verified that PATI-BEL had an office in Chadayamangalam and that Sukumaran, also a Malaysian national, was an employee of the firm. However, the publication could not trace Sukumaran, who left for Malaysia sometime after Lee’s death.
Sources associated with the project, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told TNM that they were not aware of the bribery allegation and that Lee had not mentioned it before leaving for Malaysia in November 2006.
According to these sources, it was the finance department, not the PWD, that had withheld the bills. They said Lee had travelled to Malaysia in the hope that the company would release additional funds to clear the payment bottleneck.