The Enforcement Directorate has filed a money laudering case against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter Veena Vijayan and her IT company Exalogic Solutions in the "illegal payments" case. The central agency's Kochi unit registered an Enforcement Case Information Report following a preliminary probe into the matter.
The investigation is based on reports of the Income Tax Department on Exalogic as well as the state-owned KSIDC and Kochi-based rutile mining company CMRL, reported Manorama Online.
The complainant in the case, Shaun George, claimed that the CBI should also launch a probe, considering the gravity of the case.
The move comes amid an ongoing probe by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), which is an investigative arm of the Union corporate affairs ministry. Earlier, SFIO had sent notices to Exalogic as per the Companies Act, asking the firm to submit transaction documents to its Chennai office.
SFIO intensified the probe after the Karnataka High Court had last month quashed a petition filed by Exalogic Solutions against the agency's probe. The central agency found that more than 10 companies had considerable financial dealings with Veena's firm during 2016-17. Exalogic and CMRL claimed that the money received by Exalogic through CMRL Managing Director S.N. Sasidharan Kartha's account during the period was charged for IT-related services.
