As part of its investigation into its financial ties to the mining company Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL), the IT company Exalogic Solutions, owned by Veena Vijayan, the daughter of the Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, has been started by the SFIO.
On Monday, a group from the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) commenced their investigation at the corporate headquarters of CMRL in Aluva, Kochi, about the purported funds that the business disbursed to the enterprise headed by Veena Vijayan.
When the SFIO representatives arrived at the CMRL office around nine in the morning, they started looking through company-related paperwork. Deputy Director Arun Prasad is in charge of the investigation, which was ordered on January 31. CMRL Managing Director Sasidaran Kartha and his son were present in the office when the SFIO inspectors arrived.
The inquiry into the business operations of Exalogic Solutions, which is owned by Veena Vijayan, CMRL and Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation Industrial (KSIDC), was transferred to SFIO by an order issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on January 31.
After 2016, the Income Tax Interim Settlement Board (ITISB) discovered that CMRL had paid out Rs 135 crore to politicians and other individuals. The ITISB has also discovered that Veena Vijayan and her company Exalogic collected a total of Rs 1.72 crore from CMRL from 2017 to 20 without rendering them any services.
Since the Registrar of Companies (RoC) released a preliminary report highlighting significant infractions in Exalogic Solutions' transactions with Kochi-based CMRL, the company has been the center of attention. Under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the Prevention of Corruption Act, the RoC has suggested that the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI conduct investigations.
