Bar Council Of Kerala To Initiate Proceedings Against Advocate Saiby Jose Kidangoor On Bribery Allegations

The Bar Council of Kerala on Monday decided to initiate suo motu disciplinary proceedings against Advocate Saiby Jose Kidangoor, the President of the Kerala High Court Advocates Association, who is now facing allegations of having taken money from clients in the name of bribing judges. The Bar Council took the decision in the emergency meeting convened today. In the meeting presided over by the Chairman of the Bar Council of Kerala, Advocate K.N. Anilkumar, the Council decided to issue a show-cause notice to the lawyer.

The Kerala Bar Council also received from the Union Law Ministry a complaint made to the Union Law Minister in this regard. Since the letter had no clarity regarding the identity of the complainants, the Council decided to seek further information from the Ministry.

A group of lawyers, who did not disclose their names, had earlier sent a complaint to Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, alleging that Saiby had influence over judges and higher police officials, politicians and hence a supervision by the Union Ministry was necessary. The lawyers did not disclose their identities in the petition saying that they were scared to do so.

A preliminary probe by the Kerala Police, based on a complaint made by HC Vigilance Registrar, is underway.  

As per reports, the Cochin City Police Commissioner has forwarded a report to the State Police Chief after interrogating Saiby and also recording the statements of witnesses.  The allegations are that the lawyer collected lakhs of rupees from clients under the guise of bribing three High Court judges - Justices Muhammed Mustaque, PV Kunhikrishnan and Ziyad Rahman.