The Kerala Government has issued an order to withdraw the palmolein case, which rocked the state politics for more than two decades.

The government will submit a plea in the Vigilance Court to withdraw the case.

The Government issued an order on Monday to withdraw the case.
The case related to irregularities in the import of 15,000 metric tonnes of palmolein from Malaysia, which allegedly caused a loss of Rs.2.32 crore to the exchequer during 1991-92.

The late K. Karunakaran, former Chief Minister, was the first accused in the case.

The other accused in the case are former Food Minister T H Mustafa, former Chief Secretary S Padmakumar, former Additional Chief Secretary Zachariah Mathew and former Director of the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation Jiji Thomson. Power and Energy Company and Mala Trading Corporation, Chennai, too are accused.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is the 23rd witness in the case.

Meanwhile, Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan termed the decision of the government as an attempt to protect the culprits.