The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday filed a case against Veena Vijayan, the daughter of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and her IT company under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Vijayan was booked on the basis of a complaint filed by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office over illegal payments by a mineral company to her firm.
As per the complaint, Kochi-based Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd, a private company, allegedly paid Rs 1.72 crore to Vijayan’s firm Exalogic Solutions between 2017 and 2018 despite no record of any service provided by the firm.
NDTV cited a report as stating that CMRL made monthly payments to Exalogic, despite no services being provided, because of Vijayan’s connection to “a prominent person”.
The case was already under investigation by the SFIO and the tax department. Exalogic had moved the Kerala High Court against the probe. However, the plea was turned down in February this year.
On his part, Kerala CM Vijayan has denied the allegations. Addressing the state Assembly in January this year, CM Vijayan said that his daughter started the company using his wife’s retirement funds and that the allegations being levelled against her were false.