Solar Scam: Kerala CM Oommen Chandy Deposes Before Solar Panel

Chandy said in his affidavit that there has been no loss to the government in solar dealings.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Monday appeared before the Justice Sivarajan Commission probing the solar scam in Thiruvananthapuram.

Submitting an affidavit, Chandy said that there has been no loss to the government in solar dealings. The CM also claimed that he did not help the accused and the opposition was making false allegations.

‘False Allegations’

Appearing before the commission, Oommen Chandy claimed that the meeting with co-accused Saritha S Nair in Vigyan Bhawan was on December 27, 2012, and not December 29, 2012, as he had been mentioned earlier in the Assembly.

On December 27, 2012, there was another meeting of the development committee. The mistake in dates happened because of the wrong information given by a staff member in the department. Some of my personal staff was less vigilant on the issue and following the allegations they were dismissed.

Oommen Chandy, Kerala Chief Minister

He further said that he did not meet the two co-accused— Sreedharan Nair and Saritha—together.

This is the first time in Kerala’s history that a chief minister has appeared before a judicial inquiry commission.

The Scam

The Rs 7 crore solar panel scam surfaced in 2013 and rocked the Oommen Chandy government as three of his staff members were found to have links with Saritha Nair. The three were subsequently sacked by Chandy.

There have been 33 cases lodged against Saritha Nair and her live-in partner Biju Radhakrishnan. Nair, along with Biju Radhakrishnan, has been accused of cheating many investors by promising to supply them solar panels worth millions of rupees.

The scam became a huge controversy after Saritha’s links with many top politicians were exposed.