ED investigates alleged fraud involving Vijayan’s daughter

TRIVANDRUM: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has initiated an investigation into the money laundering case involving Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter, Veena Thaikkandiyil.

Thaikkendiyil is already under investigation by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) ater the Income Tax Interim Setlement Board found she received a monthly payment of Rs 800,000 from Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) for two years.

Thaikkandiyil received Rs 17.2 million in total, Rs 500,000 of which she personally received and Rs 300,000 that went into her company’s account for services never rendered.

The CMRL allegedly received undue favours for mining coastal areas rich in minerals ater the devastating 2018 floods. The decision of the federal agency investigating economic offences to book Thaikkandiyil and others under the SFIO scanner with less than a month to go to the national elections raised many eyebrows.

The ED registered the case under the Prevention

of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), a very stringent law, that could lead to arrest and prolonged detention pending investigation.

Neither Vijayan nor Thaikkandiyil, who runs a one-person company, Exalogic Solutions, in Bangalore, responded to the development.

However, his Communist Party of India (Marxist) came in the defence of Vijayan’s daughter, describing the ED as mercenaries of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“You know how they are misusing the investigating agencies against political opponents. They are doing it with the upcoming parliamentary elections in mind,” CPI (M) state secretary MV Govindan said, responding to reporters’ queries at a press conference.

The Congress party-led opposition United Democratic Front (UDF), which swept all but one of the 20 parliamentary seats from Kerala in 2019 and hopes to repeat the feat, described it as a “pre-election stunt.”