Aryadan Mohammed, the electricity minister for the small southwest Indian state of Kerala, claims Canada-based engineering and construction firm, SNC-Lavalin, has cheated the people of Kerala of Rs98m, which it had offered for setting up a cancer center in Malabar as part of a Rs3.47bn power contract approved by Kerala’s previous government. Mr Mohammed said if the company had been serious about its commitment, it would have included either the federal or Kerala government in the contractual agreement. The minister said the Canadian Trade Commissioner’s recent statement about mediating in the deal was at best a diversionary tactic. The state government would approach the federal government to make good the loss, the Qatar-based The Peninsula newspaper reports.