The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) , which is investigating into the alleged illegal transactions of Exalogic Solutions, the firm owned by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter, is likely to issue summons to Veena Vijayan asking her to appear before the agency to record her statement.
As per the reports, the SFIO has decided to issue summons to Veena next week itself. The move came after the Karnataka High Court dismissed the plea filed by the firm owned by Veena Vijayan, seeking to quash the SFIO probe against it.
In this connection, there ae reports that the firm Exalogic Solutions will approach the Division Bench in the Karnataka High Court against the Single Bench order.
Ever since the allegation against Veena Vijayan was raised, the CPI-M has defended the Chief Minister and his daughter in the ‘ Masappady’ (monthly pay–off) case.
The party has been explaining the case as a political hunt by the Central government against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the left government. However, after the Karnataka High Court verdict, the ‘political hunt’ theory lost its sharpness.
Meanwhile, Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan has accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of having orchestrated the mineral sand mining at Thottappally in Alappuzha to purportedly aid the interests of Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL).
Kuzhalnadan said the government ordered mining at Thottappally under the guise of preventing floods in the Kuttanad region. But the real motive was to extract ilmenite found in the mineral sand deposit in the region, he alleged.
The Congress MLA said the Chief Minister had recommended necessary follow-up action on a memorandum submitted by the company claiming that it had suffered losses to the tune of Rs 60 crore following the import of ilmenite by the Centre. The firm had also urged the government to make arrangements to ensure supply of the mineral within the State itself.
He said that the chief minister had convened a meeting in 2018 in his capacity as the Chairman of the State Disaster Management Authority after a situation emerged where it was impossible to give the official nod to operationalise the mining lease in the name of the firm.
The District Collector of Alappuzha gave permission to remove sand from Thottappally in the name of preventing flood based on the decision taken at the meeting chaired by the Chief Minister, Kuzhalnadan said.
He alleged that the government decided to remove the sand at a meagre price of Rs 464 per cubic metre on the grounds that the Department of Mining and Geology and the National Centre for Earth Science Studies did not respond to its request to fix the price after assessing the value of the mineral sand that contained regulated atomic minerals. It resulted in the sale of the mineral sand to CMRL at a throwaway price, the Congress MLA said.
Kuzhalnadan alleged that the quid pro quo resulted in a jump in the profits of the firm after 2018. It gained huge profits in the 2022-23 fiscal after the hurdles for mineral sand mining were removed, he said.