The Kerala government has decided to withdraw a 16-year-old case involving controversial import of palmolein oil that clouded careers of ministers, including Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Congress veteran K Karunakaran.
The government is expected to make an appeal to a special vigilance court in this connection.
The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) had also, in 2005, issued an order closing the case that was revoked after the Left Democratic Front (LDF) returned to power, in 2006. The case involved the import of 15,000 tonnes of palmolein from a Singapore-based company during 1991-92 leading to a loss of Rs 2.32 crore for the state.
Karunakaran, the then chief minister of the state, was the first accused in the vigilance case that was registered in 1997.
Former food minister T H Mustafa and former MD of the Civil Supplies Corporation Jiji Thomson were among the other accused in the case. Chandy, who was minister for finance at the time, was brought under the investigation in 2011.
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