The Enforcement Directorate (ED) intensified its investigation into the CMRL-Exalogic monthly payoff case, moving to summon former Kerala Chief Minister and current Leader of the Opposition, Pinarayi Vijayan, for formal questioning.
The Central agency is tightening its noose around the senior CPM leader following a breakthrough report submitted to the Adjudicating Authority. The ED report submitted to the Adjudicating Authority in Delhi ahead of the confiscation of assets including those of Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter and the accused in the case, T. Veena (Veena Vijayan) is said to contain an indication to summon the former Kerala Chief Minister for interrogation.
Reports surfaced the other day that Sasidharan Kartha, former Managing Director of Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd. (CMRL) told the ED that the payments made to Veena and her firm were based entirely on his personal relationship with Pinarayi Vijayan.
According to the statement, recorded from Sasidharan Kartha under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and reportedly submitted by the ED before the PMLA Adjudicating Authority, payments of Rs. 2.78 crore were made to Veena Vijayan and Exalogic Solutions between 2017 and 2020.
Furthermore, he explicitly stated that neither Veena nor her IT company, Exalogic Solutions, ever rendered any actual services to Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL).
Enforcement Directorate Special Director Prashant Kumar arrived in Kochi last week to review the cases. It is reported that there was a discussion about questioning Pinarayi Vijayan at that time. The instructions given to the officials were that they should proceed with the proceedings after taking permission from Director Rahul Naveen. It is indicated that permission has been given for the questioning at present. If so, Pinarayi Vijayan will be questioned on the basis of Kartha’s statement.
Meanwhile, The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has reportedly uncovered new evidence in the ongoing money laundering investigation against Veena T.(Veena Vijayan) ,daughter of former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan) and her IT firm, Exalogic Solutions Pvt Ltd.
According to reports filed by the ED before the Adjudicating Authority, Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) transferred Rs.45 lakh in advance to Veena between January 2017 and October 2017, long before any invoices were actually generated or submitted
The ED’s examination of bank records shows that CMRL initiated direct payments to Veena’s personal account well before any invoices were formally issued for software or marketing services
The ED alleges that a total of Rs.2.78 crore was funnelled as bogus software service expenses to Veena and Exalogic without any corresponding services being rendered.
In this connection, the ED claims that it has received more evidence of CMRL money laundering. Sasidharan Kartha’s method of circular payment is to invoice the clients, show the expenses and then collect them back in cash from them. The clients will be paid a commission. The ED says that in this way, irregularities of Rs 182 crore took place over 15 years and Kartha also transferred money to his own company. The ED clarified that it has received evidence of money being transferred from CMRL to the family firm Nipuna and that the transfer was made without the knowledge of the shareholders.