Court refuses to include Antony as witness in SNC Lavalin case
Kochi:A Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Monday dismissed the plea of senior Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan to include Defence Minister AK Antony as a witness in the multi crore SNC Lavalin graft case. Dismissing Vijayan's petition, Judge
K.P. Jyothindranath asked the CBI to go ahead in the case. In June 2009, the CBI
had filed chargesheets against nine accused, including Vijayan, in the Rs.374
crore scam in a deal with Canadian company SNC Lavalin. Vijayan, is accused of
illegally awarding a contract to the SNC Lavalin Company for renovating three
power plants when he was the Kerala's Power Minister in 1997. In September2009,
Vijayan's counsel had approached the court to include Antony as a witness because
a crucial discussion in the renovation of the project took place when Antony was
State's Chief Minister in 1996. Vijayan was granted bail Dec 30, 2009.
