Pinarayi Vijayan defends daughter Veena, says all payments accounted for

Pinarayi Vijayan defended his daughter Veena amid allegations related to her company's transactions with CMRL. He said all payments were accounted for, taxes were paid, and dismissed allegations of money being routed through her husband, Muhammad Riyas.

Former Keralam Chief Minister and State Leader of Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday defended his daughter Veena Vijayan amid allegations related to transactions involving her company and Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL), saying all payments were properly accounted for and taxes were paid.

"My daughter is a young woman working in the computer sector. To me, she is still a child. After completing her studies, she worked at Oracle, a world-famous IT company. She left the job when continuing it after marriage became difficult. In the meantime, she has worked in foreign countries as well. Had she continued there, she would have grown to a very high salary scale. Following that, an attempt was made to start her own company. That company provides services to many people. It provides services to many establishments. At one point, a news report I used to hear was that those receiving the services included religious extremists. That there were institutions of religious extremists. It is a very famous charitable trust," he said "Among that group was the transaction that took place with the CMRL company. The remuneration paid in the transaction with my daughter's company was not a secret matter. That is a matter concerning companies. Accurate taxes have been paid for all of that. Everything has proper accounting and records. At one point, this was raised as an allegation. At that point, Muhammad Riyas was not Veena's husband," Vijayan said.

Vijayan rejects allegations against son-in-law Muhammad Riyas

He also rejected allegations that money received by Veena was later routed through her husband, Muhammad Riyas, and questioned whether media reports could make him a bribe-taker. "What the media reports is that money was received for me. That money was funnelled out by Veena through Riyas. The ED found that money received by Veena years ago was funnelled through her husband Riyas years later. As if Veena had kept that money safe all these years. Just because you printed it in bold headlines, will I turn into a bribe-taker in front of the people of Kerala? Personal life is not something that shatters just because you print headlines to vent your anger, revenge, and hatred. Do not start all this thinking you can break us with it. It will be faced politically and legally. What needs to be faced politically will be faced politically, and what needs to be faced legally will be faced legally," he said.

ED action a political hunt: Vijayan

On the Enforcement Directorate's request to the Kerala Police to register an FIR against him and Muhammad Riyas, Vijayan said the action against him was part of an attempt to implicate him. "The hunting against me did not start all of a sudden. Things have not progressed as desired by the forces that tried against me. Now the ED is making decisions. One morning, they entered the house I was living in. Their intention is clear to everyone. They need to frame or blame me in some way. They are not getting anything helpful for that," he said.

The CMRL Controversy

The controversy arose after the Company of Veena, M/s Exalogic Solutions Private Limited (a one-person company), allegedly received fraudulent payments totalling Rs 2.78 crore from CMRL under the guise of IT Consultancy Services.

Further M/s Empower India Capital Investment Private Limited (EICPL), operated by Sasidharan Kartha, Managing Director of CMRL, extended loans to Exalogic totalling Rs. 50 Lakh, despite Exalogic failing to make timely repayments, the ED said in a release. The agency further claimed that the investigations done by the ED before showed that Proceeds of Crime were generated by the management of CMRL led by SN Sasidharan Kartha and bribes were paid to various persons. Veena is allegedly one of the recipients of money from CMRL without rendering any services. (ANI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)