Kochi/New Delhi, Sept. 8 -- The Enforcement Directorate has written to the Kerala DGP seeking an FIR against former chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter T Veena and son-in-law P A Mohammed Riyas in connection with the CMRL-linked alleged bribery case, official sources said Tuesday.
The central agency has sent a communication under section 66 (2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) citing findings of its investigation conducted in the said case, the sources told reporters. This section under the anti-money laundering law empowers the ED to share findings of its criminal investigation with a law enforcement agency for registration of a fresh FIR or complaint. The ED can book a PMLA case on the basis of such a police case.
The ED has sought registration of a police FIR from the Kerala Director General of Police (DGP) against Vijayan, Veena T and Riyas and some others on the basis of "evidences" recovered by it during probe and searches conducted in this case under the PMLA, they said. It is alleged by the ED that Kerala mining firm Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) made fraudulent payments worth Rs 2.78 crore to Veena's now-defunct company Exalogic Solutions under the guise of 'IT consultancy services'. The federal agency had raided Veena, who was living with Vijayan at a rented accommodation in state capital Thiruvananthapuram, in June and subsequently questioned her. It had said in a statement in August that some "handwritten" notes were seized during searches against Veena T and these contained details of certain fund transfers to Dubai.
Veena's husband and CPI(M) leader Riyas had said that he and the party will politically and legally deal with the ED case, including the searches conducted at their homes and the businesses of people linked to them. A similar view was also expressed by CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan, who claimed that the ED was now trying to target Riyas. Vijayan had called the ED case against his daughter as a political vendetta.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.