Exalogic, the IT farm of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter, on Thursday, February 8 approached the Karnataka High Court seeking a stay of the ongoing probe by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO).
Exalogic is a company which has just one director, Vijayan's daughter Veena Vijayan, and is currently dormant. The SFIO is acting on the findings of the preliminary probe into the company conducted by the Registrar of Companies (ROC). Prior to the ROC investigation, this issue was first raised by Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan on the basis of a media report.
The report had quoted an order by the New Delhi bench of the Income Tax Interim Settlement Board which disallowed claims made by Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) to exempt payments amounting to Rs 1.72 crore made to his daughter Veena Vijayan and Exalogic Solutions Pvt Ltd, the company owned by her, over three years.
The Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) has around 13 per cent stake in CMRL, a mining company. The SFIO had recently searched the premises of the Kochi office of CMRL and on Wednesday it arrived at the KSIDC office here to inspect documents. KSIDC had approached the Kerala High Court seeking to quash the ongoing probe, but the court asked why should a state enterprise be worried of a probe which is just asking for information. “What do you want to hide,” the court asked, as it refused to quash the ongoing probe.
After questioning the CMRL and KSIDC officials, the SFIO is unlikely to approach Veena. It is being said in some quarters that sensing trouble, Exalogic on Thursday approached the Karnataka High Court seeking a stay on the probe. The Karnataka High Court will take up the petition for hearing on February 9.