Probe agency files money laundering case against Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, March 27, 2024: The Enforcement Directorate has filed a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena Vijayan and her IT company, sources in the agency said on Wednesday. The case concerns alleged illegal payments made to Ms Vijayan’s firm by a mineral company.

The ED has filed the case based on a complaint by the serious fraud investigation office, which had been asked to investigate the matter by the Centre, the sources said.

The allegation is that Kochi-based Cochin Minerals And Rutile Ltd (CMRL), a private company, made a payment of ₹ 1.72 crore to Exalogic Solutions - which is owned by Ms Vijayan - between 2017 and 2018 even though no services had been provided.

A report had claimed that CMRL had made monthly payments to Exalogic, despite no services being provided, because of Ms Vijayan’s connection to "a prominent person".

Exalogic had moved the Karnataka High Court against the probe by the serious fraud investigation office. Last month, the court had dismissed the petition and said it could not "put shackles on the hands of the Union government for such assignment".

Speaking in the Kerala Assembly in January, Chief Minister Vijayan had said that his daughter had started the company using his wife’s retirement funds and the allegations being levelled against him and his family were false.