Kerala CM Satheesan says all VACB findings leading to his exoneration in Punarjani case were made under LDF govt

Published 5 August 2026 · politics

All the findings of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) that led the United Democratic Front (UDF) government to drop the long-pending corruption charges against

All the findings of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) that led the United Democratic Front (UDF) government to drop the long-pending corruption charges against Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan over the Punarjani foreign fund scheme was made during the tenure of the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, Mr. Satheesan has said. Addressing a press conference after the Cabinet meeting here on Wednesday, he said the VACB carried out no investigation or proceedings after the Congress-led UDF came to power. The allegations concerned the marshalling of foreign funds for rehabilitating flood victims in his constituency in Paravur, Ernakulam, in 2019.

The UDF government took the decision to drop the case on July 30, with Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala accusing the previous LDF government of foisting a politically motivated case against Mr. Satheesan. Satheesan alleged that though the previous government had received a report from the Vigilance Director, which made it clear that the charges of corruption were false, the government did not make it public “in order to use the case as a smokescreen during the Assembly elections.” Explaining the timeline of the case, Mr. Satheesan said when the allegations were first made in the Assembly in 2021, he had demanded a Vigilance investigation, which found that there was no misappropriation of funds.

Following that, an individual approached the High Court demanding an investigation, but the Single Bench as well as the Division Bench rejected the petition. “Later, when I became the Leader of the Opposition in 2023, yet another investigation was ordered. The Vigilance inquiry report submitted on September 7, 2024 said the inquiry could not reveal any evidence to sustain the allegation. Back-to-back inquiries by two VACB directors had revealed ‘no Vigilance angle’ in the case. The LDF government also made an attempt to hand over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI),” he said.

When asked about the details of the funds collected and spent under the scheme, he said detailed reports have been submitted to the VACB. “The Punarjani scheme can be a good model to follow, as sponsors are directly connected to the beneficiaries and it ensures that all the money reaches the beneficiary. The model was prepared after studying the management techniques of international agencies working in the field,” said Mr. Satheesan.