CBI arrests 10 ex-FACT officers in Rs 78 crore corruption case

Kochi, Sep 28 (UNI) The CBI today arrested ten former senior officials of the Fertiliser and Chemicals Travancore (FACT), including two general managers in connection with the Rs 78 crore corruption case relating to irregularities in awarding contract to a private company for transportation of ammonia.

Former Chairman and Managing Director of FACT, Abhraham Thomas was also an accused in the case but the charges against him were dropped following his death, CBI Superintendent of Police T Vikram said.

Former General Managers K Ramachandran and N Krishnan, Executive Director of Marketing Sundaresh Shenoy, Deputy General Manager K P Balagopalan, Executive Directors Venkitasubramonia Iyer, J Narayana Murthy and K P Srivasan, Director of Finance P K Ramadas, Chief Materials Managers Alexander Francis and P Madhavan Nair were arrested on charges of graft.

The accused were charged with awarding an illegal contract to ABC&Sons for a period of ten years from April 1998 to April 2008, for transportation of ammonia from the FACT's Udhyogmandal plant to its unit in Ambalamedu at an exorbitant rate resulting in a loss of around 78 crore to the public sector company, Mr Vikram said.

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