25/01/2011 (The Economic Times), New Delhi - Central Vigilance Commissioner PJ Thomas has told the Supreme Court that he was a victim of the political rivalry between Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala, tainting his image in the palmolein oil scam case.

No grievance was made against Left Front ruled West Bengal , which had imported palm oil from Malaysia on the same day on a slightly higher price than Kerala, which made a profit of Rs 7.6 crore and not a loss of Rs 2.32 crore as alleged, the head of the country's top anti-corruption watchdog said.

"It is submitted that a grave prejudice is being done to an officer who has maintained the highest standards of integrity and has unfortunately been dragged into a controversy between 2 political leaders, which had subjected him to severe attacks on his honesty and reputation," Thomas said in his affidavit.

The CVC said that unfortunately he was caught in the middle of a political battle which arose between the former chief minister K Karunakaran and present chief minister VS Achuthanandan. The government had allowed import of palmolein from Malaysia as per the cabinet decision taken by the then chief minister Karunakaran on November 27, 1991.

Thomas was Food and Civil Supplies secretary. "When LDF came to power, an FIR was registered against Karunakaran, several others including Minister of Food and Civil Supplies, the Chief Secretary and other IAS officers including this deponent (Thomas)," the affidavit said.

Thomas said that the Kerala government in 1992 had imported palmolein at the rate of $405 per tonne. "It is pertinent to point out that West Bengal had imported from the same company on the same day at $407 per tonne. Admittedly, there was no grievance made about the import by West Bengal," the affidavit said.

"The very fact that state of West Bengal had imported on the same day at $407 i.e. 2 dollars more than the state of Kerala imported it, would show that no act of corruption was committed in the import of a commodity, the price of which varied in a volatile manner, sometimes even in the course of a single day."

According to Thomas, the sword of palmolein oil prosecution which is purely based on political overtones has been hanging over him for almost 20 years. "However, the Comptroller and Auditor General had no opportunity to know that other states had imported palmolein at the same rate and in any event West Bengal had imported at $407 per tonne on the same day that Kerala imported at $405 per tonne. What is more, CAG had no material to show that the state of Kerala made a profit of Rs 7.6 crore as against the allegation of loss of Rs 2.32 crore," said Thomas.

On the issue of 2G spectrum scam, Thomas said: "It is submitted that the deponent was appointed as Secretary of the Department of Telecom on October 1, 2009, which was several months after the allocation of the spectrum.