Kerala’s Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) on Monday booked former chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter Veena, and son-in-law, Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) lawmaker PA Mohammed Riyas, under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.
It registered two First Information Reports (FIRs) based on an Enforcement Directorate (ED) finding that Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) allegedly made monthly payments to Exalogic Solutions, the now-defunct firm of Veena, when Vijayan was the chief minister. Riyas has been named as the first accused in the second case. One FIR relates to alleged bribes to Vijayan through his daughter and the other to money allegedly routed abroad through hawala channels. Veena is an accused in both cases. Congress, which returned to power in Kerala this year, and the Bharatiya Janata Party alleged that the monthly payments to Veena and her firm in the absence of any services were essentially bribes paid to Vijayan in exchange for favours to CMRL in the mining sector. Vijayan and the CPI(M) dismissed the allegations. In February that year, the Karnataka high court dismissed Veena’s plea seeking to quash the probe.
In January 2024, the Union corporate affairs ministry ordered an inquiry into the allegations under the Companies Act. Earlier reporting noted: All about the CMRL monthly payoffs case and the consequential high court ruling against Pinarayi Vijayan The Kerala high court’s ruling on October 9, directing the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) to register an FIR and initiate an inquiry against leader of opposition Pinarayi Vijayan, his son-in-law and CPI(M) MLA PA Mohammed Riyas and daughter Veena T is seen as a major setback for the veteran CPI(M) leader and his party as well as a slap on the wrist for the UDF government in the state.
Officials familiar with the matter said the first FIR names Vijayan as the first accused. A single-judge bench of the Kerala high court said the ED report contains sufficient information pointing to cognisable offences. Earlier reporting noted: “The department has demonstrated with clinching evidence the fact that the applicant has made payments through banking channels to persons connected with a prominent person and thereby claim it as a deductible expense and by claiming to compensate a service which has not been rendered or received,” the Board had said in its order on June 12, 2023. Earlier reporting noted: Following the interim settlement board’s ruling, parties like the Congress and the BJP alleged that the monthly payments made to Veena and her firm in the absence of any services rendered were essentially “bribes” paid to Vijayan, then chief minister, in exchange for favours to CMRL in the mining sector.
