Kochi: Kerala Leader of the Opposition (LoP) V. D. Satheesan on Tuesday asked the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to come clean over the dealings of his daughter Veena Vijayan’s IT firm Exalogic after Karnataka High Court turned down her plea to stop the ongoing Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) probe.
Satheesan posed five questions to the Chief Minister, asking him to let the people know which Central agencies have probed Veena’s dealings.
“Vijayan had informed the assembly that Central investigating agencies had asked for details about Veena. I had challenged the Chief Minister to reveal about it but he has not informed any of us about it. I am today again asking him about it,” the LoP said.
He said that the Chief Minister has publicly claimed that neither Veena nor her company was investigated by the Income Tax Interim Settlement Board. “It is a blatant lie. It is now in public domain that Veena’s IT firm received money from various charity organisations on a monthly basis. The Chief Minister claims that he has done no wrong. If he is clean, why is he not revealing the names of all the organisations from which his daughter’s firm received money,” said Satheesan.
He said that it must be probed that companies which gave money to her firm received any relief in tax from the state government.
“We also now know that the NBFC company of CMRL has given loan to Veena’s firm and the probe by the Registrar of Companies (ROC) also reveals that not all the loans taken by her firm have not been deposited in the firm’s account. He should say where is all money,” he said.
The SFIO is presently acting on the findings of the preliminary probe into the company conducted by ROC.
Prior to the ROC investigation, this issue was first raised by Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan on the basis of a media report, quoting an Income Tax official as saying that Exalogic had received Rs 1.72 crore from the mining company CMRL, in which the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) has around 13 per cent stake.
The SFIO has already taken statements from CMRL and KSIDC officials and now with the court turning down Veena’s plea, all eyes are on when she will appear before the SFIO.
–IANS