Kerala monthly pay-off case: ED summons CMRL official
The anti-money laundering agency had conducted preliminary investigations into the matter before registering an Income Tax Interim Settlement Board (ECIR).
Breaking his silence on the monthly pay-off allegation against his daughter, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday completely denied the charges levelled against Veena Vijayan.
In his reply to the allegation raised by Congress member Mathew Kuzhalnadan in the Assembly under Rule 285, Chief Minister Vijayan said that his daughter’s firm Exalogic Solutions received money from Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) for the professional service delivered to them.
Calling these payments as “monthly pay-off reflects the peculiar mindset” of some people. He said that it was a deal between two companies and the campaigns against it are false.
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He said that the money was received by his daughter’s company as per the legal contract after observing tax-related formalities like Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) and Goods and Services Tax (GST). Exalogic Solutions in its IT return has recorded it, he added.
Mathew Kuzhalnadan, who raised the issue of the Chief Minister’s silence on the matter in the Assembly, termed the latter’s response as a misleading statement.
He said that he will not give up the matter and will seek the opposition leaders’ nod to pursue it further. He added that he would not allow the CM to escape from the charges.
Earlier, Mathew Kuzhalnadan questioned the Chief Minister’s silence on the allegations involving his daughter Veena Vijayan and her firm.
“It was the CPI-M state secretariat who responded to allegations against Veena Vijayan and her firm which received Rs 1.72 crore from a firm involved in sand mining at Alappuzha coastal area. The CPI-M had to say whether it had become a party standing as a guard to a family involved in extortion,” he said.
The New Delhi bench of the Income Tax Interim Settlement Board (ITISB) has found that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter received Rs 1.72 crore from CMRL for consultancy services that were never provided.
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