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SFIO’s findings against Vijayan’s daughter ‘drama with political agenda’, says CPI(M)
On Friday, CPI(M)’s Kerala secretary, MV Govindan, said the government and the CM did not hand over special favours to any firm
A day after the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) named Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter as an accused in the charge sheet in the CMRL “illegal payments” case, the CPI(M) on Friday termed the action a “drama with a political agenda” behind it.
Veena T, the CM’s daughter and director of now-defunct IT firm Exalogic Solutions, has been booked under section 447 (punishment for fraud) of the Companies Act, 2013 for benefiting from fraudulent payments of ₹2.7 crore by the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL). The origin of the SFIO probe was a 2023 ruling by the Income Tax Interim Settlement Board stating that Veena and Exalogic received monthly payments to the collective tune of ₹1.72 crore from CMRL despite rendering no services to the firm in a three-year period. The CMRL’s demand to claim the amount as “business expenses” was dismissed by the board.
On Friday, during the ongoing CPI(M) party congress in Madurai, the party’s Kerala secretary, MV Govindan, said the government and the chief minister did not hand over special favours to any firm.
“In connection to the contract between the two firms (Exalogic and CMRL), the government and the chief minister have not given special favours to anyone. So far, three vigilance courts in Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam and Muvattupuzha have dismissed petitions to name the chief minister as an accused under the Prevention of Corruption Act. All courts have said there is no evidence to point to the chief minister’s role in any kind of corruption,” Govindan told reporters.
CPI(M) politburo member MA Baby said the SFIO action should be suspected as an “attempt to divert attention from the ongoing seminars and discussions on federalism and Centre-state relations” at the ongoing meeting in Madurai. He termed the SFIO action as “politically motivated”.
“If they (Union government) think they can target the chief minister by doing such things against his family members, we are prepared to fight it politically and legally,” Prakash Karat, another politburo member, told reporters.
Meanwhile, the Congress stuck to its demand that the chief minister has a moral obligation to resign.
“When the CMRL payments row first came up, the CPM state secretariat had said that these were transactions between two firms based on a contract and that there were no irregularities in them. Today, the CPI(M) state secretary did not say that. So does the party still hold the view that there are no irregularities?” asked Mathew Kuzhalnadan, Congress MLA.
Leader of opposition VD Satheesan said there was a history of political leaders in Kerala resigning from their posts when such controversies plagued them. “The people desire the chief minister’s resignation. If he continues to latch on to his chair, the coming days will be troublesome for him,” he said.
“If it was a political case, the Centre and the Sangh Parivar would have protected the CM,” he alleged.
“He (Pinarayi Vijayan) should resign on moral grounds in the circumstances, that is if he has any morals. It is a fact that CM’s daughter’s company got money without giving any services. So, it cannot be brushed aside by terming it as politically motivated,” Congress general secretary K C Venugopal told reporters in Delhi.
With PTI inputs
