The solar scam fallouts
The scam was refreshed in memory after Saritha made startling statements in her testimony before a retired judge investigating the solar scam
Kumkum Chadha
If Congress scion Rahul Gandhi has decided to remain quiet on the controversial solar scam in a Congress ruled state, the forthcoming Assembly session is all set to be stormy.
In the eye of a storm is Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.
Like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gandhi also preferred to be silent when trouble brewed.
Modi had looked the other way when a Cabinet Minister and two Chief Ministers were embroiled in controversy. Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swarajs name had figured in a visa issue of a controversial person, namely Lalit Modi. Ditto Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje Scindia who was Modis close associate. Later two other Chief Ministers, Shiv Raj Chouhan and Raman Singh were under a cloud over the multicrore Vyapam scam and 36,000 crore rice scam respectively. Hell broke loose and there was speculation that Modi will come down heavily on errant Chief Ministers. There was also talk of him dropping Swaraj from the Cabinet. But nothing happened. Swaraj is in saddle as are the three Chief Minsters. A year has gone by and it is business as usual.
Rahul Gandhi too has looked the other way on allegations against Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in the solar scam. Like the Congress clamor in the past on BJP asking its villains to step down, it is now BJPs turn to seek Chandys resignation.
The BJP has demanded from Rahul Gandhi to order Chandy to step down as Chief Minister. They have slammed Chief Minister Chandy for sitting comfortably in the Chief Ministers chair even after serious allegations have been leveled against him.
In the middle of all this is one woman: 38-year-old Saritha who has turned the tables on Chandy and the government he heads in the state. Deposing before a judicial commission, Saritha has given details, in fact taped conversations, about the nature and route of bribes given and taken; how it was paid, to whom it was paid and how much was paid.
Rahul Gandhi may pretend to be oblivious but the forthcoming budget session of the Kerala assembly will be anything but peaceful. The Opposition is gearing up to take on Chandy and put him on the mat over the solar bribery scam.
Meanwhile, protests have already started outside the government headquarters in the state capital of Thiruvananthapuram.
Clearly, the countdown has begun.
Arrested in 2013, Saritha Nair was accused of duping industrialists. She and her partner had promised cheap solar panels. Branded as Team Solar, a solar energy company, had offered to install solar power units for several people. They collected advance payments but never delivered.
Saritha and her partner Biju Radhakrishnans alleged proximity to the Chief Minister was flaunted to strike deals and bag lucrative contracts.
Things came to a head in June 2013, following Nairs arrest by the Kerala police. Two weeks later her live in partner Radhakrishnan was taken into custody. They were both business partners in a Kochi-based firm, Team Solar Renewable Energy Solutions Pvt Limited, which offered solar energy solutions to institutions and households.
For starters, it was a simple case of cheating. The couple would collect investments from businessmen and NRIs, promising to make them partners in windmill projects and solar fields. They dropped names of politicians, including Chandy. This was enough to convince most businessmen to invest in the schemes. To appear credible, the duo would produce forged letterheads of the CMs office and impress investors by talking on the phone to the CMs staff.
One of the meetings, with an investor called Sreedharan Nair, reportedly took place in the chief ministers conference room.
It was on a complaint by Sajad, a Gulf-returned businessman, that the police moved to arrest Nair. Sajad alleged that the couple had taken Rs 40 lakh as consultation fee after promising to make him the owner of three wind mills projects. When the project did not take off, he lodged a police complaint. Nairs arrest led to more complaints trickling in and the police registered several cheating cases against the couple. They collected Nairs call records. Thats when the names tumbled out.
Chandy, who belongs to the Congress, was among the accused given that he had links with Saritha Nair. There is evidence of calls being allegedly made from his office to her.
At least four Kerala Cabinet ministers, three MLAs and hordes of government officials besides a junior Central Minister were roped in by Nair and their phone call details are now out in the public...
The scam was refreshed in memory after Saritha made startling statements in her testimony before a retired judge investigating the solar scam.
Nicknamed Solar Saritha, her version is that she paid nearly two crores of rupees as bribes to the personal staff of the Chief Minister. The issue snowballed when Sridharan Nair, a quarry owner, claimed that he had met the Chief Minister, at his office, along with Saritha, during which the Chief Minister encouraged investments in renewable energy.
Saritha has alleged that she was told by the CM to create a company-- Kerala Renewable Energy Cooperative Society Ltd, involving Chandy Oommen and some other family members. She was told to incorporate details about renewable energy resources in its bylaws.
According to Saritha Nair, Chandy Oommen was a partner of an American firm called Starflames Inc and it was suggested that the US-based company could be used for importing solar panel required.
Nair alleged that Chandy asked her firm to come up with big projects and also promised to allot 113 acres of government land in Palakkad. -
Levelling allegations of bribery, Nair said that the money she has paid as bribery went to Chandy.
Saritha did not stop here. She dragged Chandys son, into the mess. She charged that Chandy junior was also involved. She said there was a plan to float a firm engaged in renewable energy with junior Chandy as its director.
She said there was a picture of hers that had come out at a function at Kottayam where she met the chief minister. It was during this that she had discussed about a new company and the Chief Minister had agreed to that. She added that she had talked about business matters with the CMs son at the CMs residence.
In her deposition before the Commission, Saritha claimed to have met Chandy many times against the three meetings that Chandy has, before the Commission, claimed.
There was, Saritha reportedly told the Commission, a plan to import solar panels from the US in which junior Chandy allegedly had a stake. Though Saritha has maintained that her links with junior Chandy were purely business, there are
insinuations about more than meets the eye.
Saritha also deposed that she was used physically and mentally by many politicians of the state.To prove her allegations Saritha has handed over incriminating CDs and documents to the judicial commission. She has threatened to bring more evidence.
Oommen Chandy was grilled by the judicial commission for over 11 hours: the first in the history of the state. He, however, refused to take a lie detector test. Sarithas lawyer had suggested to the Commission that Chandy should undergo a lie detector test.
On his part Chandy has claimed that he has not taken a single penny. His take: he is being targeted because the Opposition is worried about losing the forthcoming elections.
Money is one part of the Saritha saga. The other and the more important is the politics that is being played out. It is about Opposition getting a ready tool to hit the Congress and with it Chandy. He may or may not be politically demolished but the die has been cast. With Congress dismal track record on the issue of corruption, the Chandy saga is threatening to take its toll: The could be the last nail in the coffin commented a detractor.
Worse still, the controversy is not limited to the state or misdeeds of Chandy. It has wider ramifications: those that will spill nationally. With the Congress on a sticky wicket, the Chandy case will come handy as a case in point about the new low the party has hit.
Quite clearly, the Chandy saga is less about the money and more about the damage. Politics apart, the buzzword about the solar energy sector not being so clean has gained ground. As the Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan has claimed, Solar energy has become a dirty term now.
The solar energy sector is a fast growing industry in Kerala. The current controversy has led to it being viewed suspiciously with more questions than answers staring it in the face. On this count the damage is incalculable. It is, as many believe, a four-letter word that has a mass stigma that comes with it now.
The solar energy had emerged a sunshine industry in the past five years because of a high level of public awareness about green energy and thanks to government support. The Saritha Chandy saga, sadly, has eclipsed it.
The writer is a senior Indianjournalist, political commentator and columnist of The Independent. She can be reached at: ([email protected])
