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Allegations against Kerala CM’s daughter: File order of probe into violations, says HC to Centre
The order came on a petition filed by advocate and Kottayam district panchayat member Shone George, demanding a probe by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office into the case
The Kerala high court on Monday asked the Centre to file by Friday the order of its probe into complaints about the financial transactions between a firm owned by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter and a Kochi-based private minerals firm.
The central government’s counsel, RV Sreejith, told the court that the order was issued under Section 210 of the Companies Act, referring to the inquiry announced by the Union corporate affairs ministry on January 12 into alleged violations by Exalogic Solutions Pvt Ltd owned by Vijayan’s daughter Veena T, Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) and Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, which has a stake in CMRL.
“In such scenario, I direct the central government counsel to file the order now stated to have been issued by the Government of India, which shall be done not later than this Friday (19.01.2024),” a bench of justice Devan Ramachandran said.
The order came on a petition filed by advocate and Kottayam district panchayat member Shone George, demanding a probe by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office into the case. George is a member of the Kerala Janapaksham (Secular) party, which has indicated its willingness to join the National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The high court also directed the lawyer to “obtain specific instructions, if any further action by the SFIO has been ordered or found warranted by the next posting date.”
The director general of corporate affairs at the central ministry has appointed a three-member team to probe the alleged violations and submit a report within four months.
“On the basis of a complaint, an inquiry of Exalogic Solutions Private Limited was conducted by the registrar of companies, Bangalore under the provisions of Section 206(4) of the Companies Act, 2013 which highlighted various violations and offences under the Act while recommending an investigation into the affairs,” the order issued on January 12 said.
A report submitted by the registrar of companies in Ernakulam to the Centre was also quoted in the order as saying, “It emerged that either replies furnished by CMRL are vague and evasive in nature to the allegations or the reply is not furnished by the KSIDC with respect to the notices issued by the registrar of companies on the basis of the complaints.”
The row over suspicious financial transactions between Veena’s firm and CMRL first erupted in July last year following a ruling of the Income Tax Interim Settlement Board. It found that Veena and her firm Exalogic received monthly payments to the tune of ₹1.72 crore from CMRL in a three-year period even though no services were rendered by her firm. The board ruled that the payment could not be considered as a business expense of CMRL as the services were not rendered by Veena’s firm.
“The department has demonstrated with clinching evidence the fact that applicant has made payments through banking channels to persons connected with a prominent person and thereby claim it as a deductible expense and by claiming to compensate a service which has not been rendered or received,” the board had said in its order dated June 12, 2023.
On Sunday, following the announcement of the Centre’s probe into the case, Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary MV Govindan said, “There is nothing new in this case and everything has been said before. Let the investigation take place and the party has nothing to fear. It is politically motivated. If you subtract the chief minister from the equation, there is no (motive for the) probe.”
