The Kerala government has directed the state police chief to conduct an inquiry into allegations of illegal payments involving former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter T Veena, and former minister and his son-in-law P A Mohammed Riyas. The development came after a legal opinion from the Advocate General on the Enforcement Directorate’s report on its investigation into the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL)-Exalogic alleged payoff case. Exalogic is Veena’s now-defunct IT company.
The government order in this regard is expected to be released on Wednesday, September 23. State Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said that the state could not ignore the information shared under Section 66(2) of the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act). “This is specifically mentioned under the Vijay Madanlal judgement. Another crucial Supreme Court judgement in this regard is the Lalitha Kumari case (Lalitha Kumari v/s State of UP). As per this, FIR (first information report) could not be registered unless a cognisable offence is revealed in a preliminary inquiry in five types of cases, including corruption,” Chennithala said.
In protest against the government’s decision, Communist Party of India (Marxist) members conducted a march to Martyrs’ Square in Palayam, Thiruvananthapuram, on Tuesday, alleging political vendetta by the United Democratic Front government against Vijayan.
Responding to the developments, CPI(M) state general secretary M V Govindan said that the UDF government was acting as a “B-team of Sangh Parivar”. “BJP has been using central agencies against opposition parties across the country. The UDF government in Kerala is offering unprecedented support for it. Similar moves of the BJP were rejected by states like Tamil Nadu and Punjab,” he said.
As per the ED report, the amount paid by CMRL to Veena for IT consultancy services provided by her and her firm, Exalogic Solutions, was a payoff to the former chief minister. CMRL had paid Rs 3.28 crore to Veena and her now-defunct IT firm over a period of three years from 2017. The ED has also alleged in its report that Veena’s husband and former minister Mohammed Riyas had sent around Rs 1.2 crore to the UAE through the hawala route.