Kerala Palm oil scam case on Jan 25

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 12 (IBNS) A local court on Wednesday fixed Jan 25 for hearing, just a day after India’s highest court paved way for resumption of trial of the two-decade-old palmolein oil import scam in Kerala in which Central Vigilance Commissioner P J Thomas is an accused along with the late chief minister K Karunakarn.

The Public Prosecutor, however, told the trial court that since the first accused Karunakaran is dead, the case would reopen for other accused, including Thomas.

A Supreme Court bench on Tuesday vacated the stay on the trial of the palmolein case.

It gave the go ahead to the trial court in Kerala to proceed with the case, after treating Karunakaran’s appeal as “abated” following his death on Dec 23, 2010.

Karunakaran had moved the SC in 2007 seeking quashing of the case and claiming it was politically motivated.

Thomas, the then Kerala’s food and civil supplies secretary had singed the order to import some 15,000 tons of palmolein oil from a Singapore firm at $15 per tonne, more than the prevailing market price in 1991-92.

The import had caused the state exchequer a loss of over Rs 2 crore.

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