Thiruvananthapuram: In a major embarassment to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter Veena Vijayan has been named in a chargesheet filed by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) for fraudulently accepting ₹2.72 crore from Cochin Minerals And Rutile Ltd — a public limited firm — for services she never rendered.
The Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs has now granted permission to prosecute Veena, her company Exalogic and CMRL.
Known as the ‘monthly payment scandal’ in Kerala, the issue has been a major embarassment for the CM, especially at a time when he has been gathering attention and praise at the on-going CPM national meet in Madurai
If found guilty, she could face fine and a jail term of 8-10 years.
Along with Veena, CMRL director Shasidharan Kartha and Finance Manager P. Suresh Kumar have been named for siphoning ₹182 Cr in the name of environment activities and diverting the money to politicians across the board in Kerala.
The CMRL list of illegal payments has mysterious initials like PV (some say it is the CM though he has denied it), RC (a senior Cong leader), former CM Oommen Chandy and others.
These names would come out in the open when the investigations commence.
Sources said Veena and Kartha would be further questioned. Investigators would see if the money was paid to Veena to influence Pinarayi who had initially opposed mining in Kerala when he was in the opposition and later giving CMRL all go-ahead
