Kerala High Court | Photo: PTI
Kochi: A preliminary investigation report prepared by the Kerala High Court Vigilance Registrar has revealed that advocate Saiby Jose Kidangoor accepted large sums of money from various clients on the pretext of paying bribes to High Court judges.
Vigilance registrar KV Jayakumar has recommended contempt of court procedures against Saiby and claimed there is prima facie evidence in the case.
Earlier, Mathrubhumi had published a report that the Registrar General had written to the State Police Chief asking for an inquiry against Saiby. Kochi Police Commissioner will lead the probe against the advocate.
The incident came to light after a high court advocate, in a Facebook post, detailed unholy practices ongoing among certain advocates in the state. Later, the court intervened and directed its vigilance wing to conduct an inquiry into the allegations levelled against Saiby.
The preliminary report from the registrar to Chief Justice noted that Saiby accepted large sums of money from parties, including filmmakers, in the name of paying bribes to High Court judges.
Meantime, the Vigilance registrar also collected the statement of four lawyers, who alleged that Saiby Jose accepted the money by claiming it was to bribe Justice PV Kunhikrishnan, Justice A Muhamed Mustaque and Justice Ziyad Rahman AA of the High Court.
Saiby allegedly collected Rs 2 lakh, Rs 25 lakh, and Rs 50 lakh from the clients claiming it was to be paid to Justice A Muhamed Mustaque, Justice PV Kunhikrishnan and Justice Ziyad Rahman AA, respectively.
It is learned that police will collect the statement from Saiby on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the officials are recording the statements of others in the case. They have already recorded the statement of a filmmaker, who alleged to have paid Rs 25 lakh to Saiby.
Saiby was recently elected as the president of the Kerala HC Advocates Association.
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