Vigilance court rejects Cong MLA’s plea for probe against Vijayan in pay-off case
Vigilance court rejects Cong MLA’s plea for probe against Vijayan in pay-off case
In a relief to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, a vigilance Court here on Monday rejected the petition filed by Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan seeking an investigation against Vijayan and his daughter in the CMRL monthly pay-off case.
The father-daughter duo has been accused of receiving monthly payments from the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) in return for favouring the operations of the firm.
The Vigilance court has dismissed the Congress MLA’s petition stating that the petitioner failed to produce sufficient evidence to order a probe into the allegations.
Kuzhalnadan sought a direct inquiry by the Vigilance court into the involvement of the chief minister and his daughter in the case.
Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan had in his petition demanded a probe by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Department into the allegations against Chief Minister Vijayan and his daughter in the monthly pay-off case. However, later when the court was to deliver its judgment, he changed his position and submitted a fresh request seeking the court to directly probe the case.
In his petition, Kuzhalanadan alleged that Exalogic Solutions, the firm owned by Veena Vijayan, received monthly payments as a reward for providing improper assistance to a private mining company, Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd.
The court had sought evidence from Kuzhalnadan regarding the alleged wrongful assistance to the private company. Following this, the MLA’s lawyer during the previous hearing submitted five documents to the court to prove the allegations against the CM and his daughter. However, the Vigilance Court said that it did not find any evidence of wrongful assistance provided by the government in these documents.
Earlier on March 31,the Ministry of Corporate Affairs ordered a Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) probe into the affairs of Exalogic Solutions, as well as Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) and Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC).
In the last week of March, the Kochi unit of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered an Enforcement Case Investigation Report (ECIR) –– similar to 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 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 may include the individuals and entities on the record of the ITSIB order. Besides Veena, the role of CMRL and the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC), which holds 13.4% shares in CMRL, will also come under the ambit of the probe.
The report revealed that CMRL had paid money to other political leaders and trade union leaders as well. ED investigation is also likely to cover other persons who received money from CMRL.