It seems the stars are not on the right sides for the LDF. Things are getting more and more tangled. The government has been  facing disasters one after one and the latest was the high court referring the SNC Lavalin case to the CBI.

The LDF government had left no stones unturned to see that the case is safely wrapped up into the shelves but the high court not only gave wings to the case but also gave a nasty slap on the face of the present government by criticizing the government for not being fair in the issue. The ruling says the case is handed over to the CBI because the government can’t influence the trial and as it is an independent agency. The ruling also approves the former UDF governments decision to handover the case to the CBI and also brushed away the LDF’s allegation that the UDF’s decision was politically motivated.

The SNC Lavalin is a Canadian company which had entered into a contract with the LDF government in 1998 for the renovation and modernization the Hydel Projects at Pallivasal, Chengulam, and Panniyar which had ended up in a plump 374 crore loss for the electricity board. Foul play was suspected of the involvement of many influential including the powerful Pinnarai Vijayan in signing the contract.

The decision to modernize the Hydel Projects was taken in 1994 and an agreement was signed with the Lavalin for the execution of the works in 1995 and later in 1996 a contract was signed with the company appointing it as the official consultant for the project. The same year a large sum of 24.04 crore and 183 crores was allotted as consulting fees of lavalin and for the purchase of machinery and services from Canada respectively.

The 1996 election brought the LDF to the throne lead by E.K.Nayanar, Pinnarai vijayan was the minister of electricity then. The same year the CPM politburo  appointed a committee lead by E. Balanandan to study the problems of  electricity and related areas. The committee presented its report in1997 suggesting renovation works at Pallivasal and Chengulam projects. The report also recommended that ‘BHEL’ a public sector company, for the execution of the works.

However the government was keen in joining hand with Lavalin and it ignored the report. Subsequently, the state witnessed Mr. Pinnarai Vijayan visiting Canada and the company offering help for modernizing the Malabar Cancer Center. It offered to pool up a fat 98.3 crore from various agencies of Canada for this purpose. The final contract was signed on Feb 10 1997 by adding another responsibility of purchasing machinery and services for the project worth the former ones and the value of the contract was also enhanced to 153.3 crores.

When the modernization and renovation was completed, the total cost was calculated to be 240 crores. Higher than what was estimated earlier and as far as the help for the Malabar Cancer Center was concerned, what was actually received was a mere 8.98. The Auditor General calculated the loss from the contract including the one offered help at 374.5 crores. Plump monetary misplacements can be naturally suspected.