CEC Gyanesh Kumar and the 2006 Kerala bribery case: What happened next, why the investigation is reopening – Explained | Today’s news

Last week, the Congress-led government in Kerala ordered the state’s Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau to reopen a 2006 probe into alleged bribery against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.

The case is about the suicide of Malaysian civil engineer Lee See Been, who was associated with the PATI-BEL consortium involved in the modernization of the road construction project under Kerala State Transport Project (KSTR).

Read also | CEC Gyanesh Kumar postpones two-day visit to Chhattisgarh amid protests

The development came as opposition leaders, including Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, demanded the resignation of the CEC over allegations of irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls by Special intensive revision (SIR).

Quick answers to key questions

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The 2006 CEC Gyanesh Kumar bribery case involves allegations against Kumar related to the suicide of a Malaysian engineer and alleged corrupt practices related to a World Bank-backed road construction project.

The Kerala government reopened the investigation in response to renewed public pressure and opposition demands for accountability surrounding Gyanesh Kumar and allegations of irregularities in election processes.

Lee See Been’s suicide is linked to the Gyanesh Kumar case through a suicide report that allegedly accused PWD officials, including Kumar, of extorting bribes to clear payment accounts related to a construction project.

After Lee’s suicide, the Kerala government removed Gyanesh Kumar from his position and started an investigation through the Vigilance Bureau, which later did not progress until recently.

The issue of Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation is contentious, with opposition leaders advocating his ouster due to ongoing allegations, while Kumar has not publicly resigned.

Delhi Police temporarily detained Rahul Gandhi in the national capital on Tuesday evening to end a nearly nine-hour standoff during a protest over Kumar’s resignation.

Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were escorted by police towards the bus from the Akashvani Bhawan grounds after hundreds of officers barred them from marching to the election office earlier in the day. Congress leaders were released later that night.

What is the 2006 case against Gyanesh Kumar?

In 2006, Kumar, a 1988-batch Kerala cadre IAS officer, served as Minister of State Department of Public Works (PWD). During his tenure, allegations of bribery emerged following the suicide letter of a Malaysian engineer who was part of a World Bank-backed road project implemented by a Malaysian-Indian joint venture called PATI-BEL.

The Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP) is the flagship project of the state PWD. For a price ₹1,600 crore project aimed to rehabilitate selected major roads totaling 1,600 km under PWD with World Bank loan.

Kerala-based Bhageeratha Engineering and Malaysian firm PATI joined hands for the tender. The joint venture has started work value ₹216 crore, mainly involving the upgrading of the main central road from the state capital Thiruvananthapuram in the south to Angamaly in the central part of the state. The project would build the first state highway designed using new surface treatment techniques.

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PATI-BEL started working on the project in December 2002 after concluding a final agreement with the then Congress-led government. In October 2006, the contractor notified the government that it could not complete the work on the original date, citing delays in land acquisition.

As construction costs escalated, PATI-BEL demanded a 30% increase in the contract amount. The Thomas Isaac-led finance department under the CPI(M) government rejected the demand and asked the World Bank for permission to re-contract the work.

A case of suicide

Lee See Been, 54, was the chief project manager of the works carried out by PATI-BEL. In 2006, the company presented promissory notes worth ₹18 million to pay. According to legislative assembly documents from 2007, PATI-BEL officials visited ministers several times to request payment.

As a senior project manager, Lee was allegedly under pressure from subcontractors and building material vendors who demanded payment. As the work got delayed, the Congress-led opposition also put pressure on the CPI(M) government. It was a former alliance that outsourced the work to the enterprise.

On 11 November 2006, Lee, who had by then returned to Malaysia, died by suicide in Kuala Lumpur. He allegedly left a suicide note addressed to the company director and his wife, in which he claimed that PWD officials were seeking bribes to pay bills.

Reports indicated that the suicide note included the name of the then PWD secretary, Gyanesh Kumar. The suicide note was never published.

What did the investigation reveal?

A month after Lee’s death in 2006, the then CPI(M) government removed Kumar from his post. Probe by Office Vigilance it was also ordered to look into the allegations.

The government canceled the contract with PATI-BEL because the work could not be completed on time. Subsequently, the government again announced a tender for the work.

Then in March 2010, Kerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, a CPI(M) leader, informed the Legislative Assembly that two Vigilance probes were underway into KSTP.

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However, the probe did not proceed. Kumar, who was removed as PWD secretary in December 2006, has not been allotted any new post in the state, according to a report in the Indian Express. He then went on central deputation to New Delhi when The Congress-led UPA government was in power.

What happened to the project?

In 2007, the CPI(M) government in Kerala canceled the contract with PATI-BEL. A year later, the government agreed to renew the contract with PATI-BEL itself. PATI-BEL took over the project again after the government allocated another ₹72 million, in addition to the original ₹216 million.

Congress veteran and Kerala opposition leader Oommen Chandy then demanded Finance Minister Thomas Isaac to clarify the circumstances of the renewal, given that Isaac demanded the blacklisting of PATI-BEL when the work was delayed.