June 20, 2019
Govt. says charges baseless and its efforts have benefitted sector
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The Opposition walked out of the Assembly on Thursday in protest against alleged corruption in the tendering and purchase of raw cashew from Mozambique.
In turn, the government took strong exception to the Opposition's boycott on a “non-issue”.
Law Minister A. K. Balan said Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala had violated procedure by harping on baseless charges of corruption in cashew procurement though Congress lawmaker Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan had raised no such allegation in writing when he sought permission to move an adjournment motion in the House to discuss the ‘crisis in the cashew sector’.
He said Mr. Chennithala had raised the graft charge out of the blue. He had denied Minister for Cashew Industries, J. Mercykutty Amma, a chance to defend herself. Mr. Balan requested Speaker P. Sivaramakrishnan to expunge Mr. Chennithala’s allegations from Assembly records. The Speaker said he would rule on the matter later.
Mr. Radhakrishnan confronted the government with the accusation that the Kerala Cashew Board (KCB) had contracted the very middlemen it had sought to eliminate to procure raw cashew from Tanzania and Mozambique.
e-tendering bypassed
It waived the e-tendering process to enable the agents to import low-grade cashew with diminished nut yield at a rate higher than the market rate under the pretext of protecting the jobs of 3 lakh cashew workers in Kollam district.
The government had tendered for cashew in advertisements published in newspapers in far-flung Africa.
However, those who responded to the expression of intent were agents in Kerala. Mr Radhakrishnan also questioned the credibility of the firm contracted by the government to examine the quality of raw cashew imports. The KCB's import of cashew had caused massive loss to the State and undue pecuniary gain to the suppliers and their agents.
Chennithala demand
Mr. Ramesh demanded a Vigilance inquiry into the procurement process.
Ms. Mercykutty Amma said KCB’s successful market intervention had lowered the global price of cashew. Tanzanian government has agreed to supply 2 lakh metric tonnes at significantly low prices. The government had no say on which entities foreign suppliers appointed as their authorised agents in Kerala.
She said the government had bypassed the e-tendering process temporarily because some foreign suppliers did not have the digital signature to authorise their document and wire transfers. The issue has been resolved now.
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