Kerala court asks Congress leader to stick to demand

KOCHI: In a surprise move, Congress leader and Muvatupuzha MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan requested the court considering his demand for a Vigilance department investigation to look into the financial dealings of Veena Vijayan’s IT firm Exalogic Solutions and Cochin Minerals and Rutiles Limited (CMRL), to order a court inquiry into the mater.

Earlier, Kuzhalnadan moved the court seeking a Vigilance probe into the incident.

However, Kuzhalnadan changed his position while the petition about this case was being considered at the Trivandrum Vigilance Court on Thursday.

During the previous hearing, Kuzhalnadan had demanded that the Vigilance department carry out the investigation instead of the courtled investigation.

On Thursday, Kuzhalnadan backtracked from his earlier request and sought a court-led investigation. The court asked the Congress leader, who is also an advocate, to stick to one demand.

According to Kuzhalnadan, CMRL paid an amount of Rs1.72 crores to Exalogic Solutions for which no service was provided by the later.

The payment was made with an eye on favours from Veena’s father Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan with regard to mineral sand mining concessions.

The Vigilance department rejected demands for an inquiry into the mater saying that the case was initially investigated by another agency.

Responding to his change of stand in the court, Kuzhalnadan said that he has not changed his demand on the monthly pay off controversy.

He said that he has no faith in the Vigilance investigation and only an investigation through court intervention will be transparent.

Kuzhalnadan’s new demand is that the court should directly file a case against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his daughter Veena Vijayan in the case. Kuzhalnadan changed his stand when the order was about to be pronounced. The court asked Kuzhalnadan to stick to one demand.

The Vigilance lawyer told the court that Kuzhalnadan’s change of stance was politically motivated. The verdict will be pronounced on 12 April.