The Enforcement Directorate (ED), probing into the monthly pay-off case involving the firm owned by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena Vijayan, has summoned Sasidharan Kartha, Managing Director (MD) of Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) for interrogation.
The ED has issued a notice to Sasidharan Kartha, asking him to appear before the agency’s office in Kochi for interrogation on Monday.
Meanwhile, the CMRLofficial, who is in charge of the financial matters of the company, did not appear before the agency, despite being given a notice asking him to present for interrogation in the ED’s Kochi office for interrogation on Thursday.
The Income Tax Interim Settlement Board (ITSIB) has earlier found that Veena and her firm Exalogic Solutions had received Rs 1.72 crore as monthly payments from CMRL despite there being no evidence of any services given in return.
The Kochi unit of the ED has in March 2024 registered an Enforcement Case Investigation Report (ECIR) –similar with a First Information Report(FIR) in criminal cases — against Veena Vijayan’s company under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 and started a probe into the transactions.
The anti-money laundering agency had conducted preliminary investigations into the matter before registering the ECIR
The Central agency has acted on the basis of the report by the Income Tax Interim Settlement Board (ITSIB) in August 2023 stating that Veena and her firm Exalogic Solutions had received Rs 1.72 crore as monthly payments from the CMRL despite there being no evidence of any services given in return.
The ED probe will include the individuals and entities on the record of the ITSIB order. Besides Veena Vijayan, the role of CMRL and the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC), which holds 13.4 per cent, shares in CMRL, will also come under the ambit of probe.
The ITISB report revealed that CMRL had paid money to other political leaders and trade union leaders as well. The ED investigation is also likely to cover other persons who received money from CMRL. The ITISB had found that CMRL had disbursed Rs 135 crore to political leaders and others after 2016.
The probe by the ED coincides with an ongoing investigation by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO).
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs in January 2024 issued an order handing over the probe into the affairs of Exalogic Solutions, the firm Veena Vijayan, as well as Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) and Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation Industrial (KSIDC) to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO).
The Karnataka High Court had in February dismissed the petition filed by the firm Exalogic Solutions, owned by Veena Vijayan questioning the action of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) ordering a probe by the SFIO into the affairs of the company.