THE Chief Minister of Kerala A.K. Antony has decided to relieve all anti-corruption officials from the enquiries of cases, which they had been entrusted with during the previous regime of LDF. Officers and prosecutors working on notorious corruption cases like palmolein, graphite, spirit, kuriarkutty-karappara etc. have been either shunted out or their work grossly interfered with. This is being done quite purposefully by the UDF government in order to protect the corrupt ministers and UDF leaders from the legal consequences arising out of these cases.

The Palmolein case, in which K.Karunakaran the godfather of the Congress (I) in Kerala is the chief accused, was from the beginning being enquired by A.Surendran, the vigilance superintendent of police. Antony began his torpedoing process of the vigilance enquiries by sending away Surendran from the vigilance department itself. In fact he had charge sheeted K.Karunakaran and others with the permission and directive from the supreme court. The court is yet to examine the charge sheet while Surendran is shunted out of vigilance department. This is sheer violation of the norms practiced hitherto in the state and a vulgar interference in vigilance procedures so that the culprits in the corruption cases are saved. Surendran has been working in the vigilance department since 1988. Now he is posted as SP, Commandant, Trivandrum. He is an experienced officer in the conduct of enquiries in vigilance and other matters relating to corruption. It would have been a moral sense of duty on the part of the government to retain Surendran in the same post considering his experience and sincerity. Instead of this Antony has revengefully transferred him from the department itself. The fact that vigilance department falls under the Chief Minister's purview exposes the mask of idealism that Antony always wears. It is now proved beyond doubt that he is not only an abettor of corruption but a saviour of the corrupt.

The UDF government has been in power for only a month and a few days. Within this short duration it has retrenched many special public prosecutors who have been managing and leading the corruption cases against many ministerial colleagues of Antony. The Court had ordered that K.M.Mani, a minister in the new cabinet should be named as an accused in the graphite case. It was in the same case the notorious R.Balakrishnapillai has been found and pronounced guilty by the courts and finally as per directions from the Supreme court was imprisoned. The special public prosecutor in this case was P.A. Ahamed, an advocate in the High Court of Kerala. Mr. Ahmed tendered his resignation since he was convinced that he would not be permitted to act according to his conscience or legal manner.

The past LDF government had taken amny effective and stern measures against corruption and the corrupt people regardless of their stature. But the so-called Mr. Clean and idealist Antony is taking Kerala back to the corrupt and black days of the UDF regimes of the past. This has to be resisted and efforts made to make Kerala a corruption-free state.