Kerala CM Oommen Chandy appears before judicial commission, denies involvement in solar scam

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Monday appeared before the Judicial Commission probing the solar panel scam and denied the charges that he and his office had any role in the scandal. Chandy, who appeared before the Justice Sivarajan Commission which held a sitting at the Thycaud Guest House at Thiruvananthapuram, said the state had not incurred any loss due to the scam. Chandy pointed that he had not met Saritha, one of the accused in the scam along with Sreedharan Nair, who made the first complaint in the case, Commission sources said. [caption id=“attachment_2598028” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Oommen Chandy in a file photo. AFP[/caption] The chief minister also made it clear that neither he nor his office had helped the fraudulent solar energy company Team Solar, founded by Saritha and her co-accused Biju Radhakrishnan. Chandy said he had met Radhakrishnan only once, but it was to discuss a personal issue which he did not want to disclose before the Commission. This is the first time a Kerala chief minister has appeared before a judicial commission. The opposition CPM-led LDF had launched a massive agitation demanding Chandy’s resignation as the scam took a political turn after it emerged that at least two of the members of the chief minister’s staff — Tenny Joppen and Jikkumon — had alleged links with Saritha. Government had appointed a retired High Court judge as the one-man commission on 23 October, 2013 to probe the scam. Solar scam pertains to cheating of several persons worth crores of rupees by Saritha and Radhakrishnan by offering solar panel solutions. The two allegedly canvassed business by using high-level names including that of Chandy. While Saritha was granted bail after remaining behind bars for nearly nine months, Radhakrishnan is still in jail. PTI