Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan on Monday said the state Goods and Services Taxes (GST) Department’s response was just a ‘capsule’ from the party to safeguard Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. He said the monthly payment made to the company of CM’s daughter by CMRL without getting any service is the main issue.

Addressing a press conference in Kochi, Kuzhalnadan said that Veena has been obtaining money from the private minerals company CMRL since 2017. She acquired GST registration only in 2018. Then, how did she manage to pay GST before that, he asked.

He also distributed a document which stated that Veena Vijayan’s company registered for the GST on January 17, 2018. Till she registered for GST, Veena received Rs 60 lakh in her account from the CMRL. This was clarified by the I-T Interim Settlement Board as well, he said. Kuzhalnadan said the Finance Minister should clarify how Veena Vijayan’s company paid taxes before it got GST registration.

As regards to the communication from the GST Department, he said that nowhere in the letter does it mention that the tax amount was paid for the Rs 1.72 crore the company received as service charges.

The Congress MLA further said the primary issue is the ‘masappadi’ (monthly pay-off) paid to Veena’s company Exalogics Solutions by the mineral company Cochin Minerals and Rutile limited (CMRL) without getting any service to them.

In August, Kuzhalnadan launched a scathing attack on CM Vijayan and his daughter Veena after it has been reported that Income Tax Interim Board of Settlement (ITIBS), New Delhi, has found that the CM’s daughter Veena Vijayan’s company has received Rs 1.72 crore from CMRL without providing any service to them.

The state Goods and Services Tax on Saturday in a letter informed Mathew Kuzhalnadan, who had raised corruption allegations against  CM Vijayan’s daughter, that it was found that the CM’s daughter’s company had remitted the IGST for the amount that she received from Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd. However, the letter didn’t mention any other details including the amount she had paid as tax and the dates on which the payment was made.