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CM Vijayan’s daughter Veena “illegally” took ₹1.72 crores from a mining firm between 2017 & 2020
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A payment of ₹1.72 crores received by Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena from a private firm has been declared “illegal” by the Income Tax authorities.
Veena was paid the amount in monthly installments between 2017 and 2020 by Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL). In its ruling, a settlement board of the Income Tax department observed that she received the money due to her relationship with a “prominent person”.
Veena and her firm Exalogic Solutions had previously entered into an agreement with CMRL to provide IT, marketing consultancy, and software solutions in 2016. However, no services were rendered by Exalogic.
The board said that the IT sleuths successfully established, based on strong evidence, that remuneration was made without any services being provided.
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CMRL came under the scrutiny of the Income Tax department in 2019 and 2020 for multiple instances of suspected tax evasion, leading to various raids at their office and the residence of the company’s managing director, Sasidharan Kartha.
According to the data, Veena received ₹55 lakh in a personal capacity and ₹1.17 crores for Exalogic. CMRL’s chief financial officer Suresh Kumar and chief general manager P Suresh Kumar deposed before the Income Tax department, stating that they were unaware of any services provided by Veena Vijayan or Exalogic within the stipulated contract period.
A separate agreement was made with Veena’s company Exalogic in 2017 for software services. As per the agreement, CMRL was required to pay Rs 5 lakh per month to Veena and Rs 3 lakh per month to Exalogic.
Despite efforts by Sasidharan Kartha and company officials to retract their statements through an affidavit, the IT department remained steadfast in asserting that money was illicitly paid to Veena and Exalogic.
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The matter has sparked a political debate, with both the Congress and the BJP demanding answers from the chief minister regarding the basis of the transaction and the identity of the ‘prominent person’ on whose behalf the monthly remuneration was made to his daughter Veena and her company Exalogic.
“Without any legal foundation, the chief minister’s daughter has accepted money from a mining company, and the evidence is now public. A bench comprising four judges has ruled the transaction illegal, so the chief minister cannot merely dismiss it as an allegation. The funds have been directly transferred to the account of the CM’s daughter, and this has been determined as illegal. He must provide details of the transaction in the assembly, or we will protest in the assembly,” stated Congress leader Mathew Kuzhalnadan.
However, neither the CPI (M) state secretariat nor CM Vijayan has responded to revelations.
