Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy became the first head of government in the State to appear before a commission of inquiry to depose in a corruption case.
The proceedings in the solar panels scam case began on Monday morning and were thrown open to the media in what is considered a clear instance of deviation from the past.
The Chief Minister was summoned by the single judge commission inquiring into the scam in which the maximum number of allegations was linked directly with the goings on at the Chief Minister's office.
The submissions made by the prime accused and self-styled solar entrepreneur Biju Radhakrishnan as also by the Opposition in the State had cast aspersions at the Chief Minister and his office.
This necessitated deposition by the Chief Minister. The venue was the government guest house at Thycaud here.
Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister denied in an affidavit submitted to the secretary of the commission that the State government had suffered any financial loss from the solar contract.
Any suggestion to the contrary has been at best an allegation by the Opposition — nothing more, nothing less, the affidavit said.
At no time during the ideation of the contract or after has the government tried to protect any of the accused in any manner, it added.
‘Not met Saritha’
The Chief Minister also denied the allegation that he had met with the accused Saritha Nair and Sreedharan Nair together. But he admitted he had met the accused Biju Radhakrishnan at Ernakulam on a purely personal matter. It was not proper for him to go public with it, he said.
The Chief Minister’s affidavit did not throw up any surprises and were in line with his earlier utterances on the controversy.