Corruption protected: Government yet to grant permission to prosecute 400 corrupt individuals

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government is not granting permission to the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau to prosecute 400 individuals, including politicians and government officials, involved in corruption cases. The list of corrupt politicians includes elected representatives from various political parties.

As per the amendment to Section 17(A) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, prior approval from a higher authority is required to file cases against the Chief Minister, ministers, elected representatives, and officials. However, the Vigilance Department's prosecution requests are being hoarded by the concerned departments. Vigilance Chief Yogesh Gupta has written a letter to Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan urging her to give instructions to expedite approvals.

Some prosecution requests have been pending for over five years. The Home Secretary forwards these applications to the respective departments, but they are either ignored or left unanswered. Due to the lack of approval, chargesheets have to be filed without corruption charges, weakening the cases and allowing the accused to escape punishment.

The Supreme Court has ruled that public servants can be convicted in bribery cases even based on circumstantial evidence. However, even when chargesheets are filed with substantial evidence, prosecution approval remains elusive.

For instance, no approval has been granted for four years in the Palarivattom flyover corruption case. In that case, the Governor had approved prosecution against former minister VK Ebrahimkunju. Recently, permission was granted for cases against KM Shaji in the Plus-Two bribery case and former DGP Jacob Thomas in a Tamil Nadu land deal case.

Deliberate delays
Prosecution approval requests must be decided within three months. The government can either grant or deny approval. If denied, complainants can approach the High Court. To avoid this, applications are simply hoarded without taking a decision.

How corrupt officials escape

• Blocking prosecution approval allows corrupt officials to evade justice.
• Without corruption charges, cases are now filed under conspiracy and abetment laws instead.
• This weakens the case, ultimately helping corrupt officials retire peacefully.