Kochi: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Thursday questioned Kerala Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena T for a second time in connection with a Rs2.78 crore money laundering case here.
She was questioned for over nine hours by the ED on June 17 in connection with the case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
ED officials inspected Veena’s bank lockers in Thiruvananthapuram as part of the ongoing investigation on June 19.
Veena appeared in connection with allegations of receiving Rs 2.78 crore from CMRL without providing any services to it by her now-defunct Exalogic IT company.
The agency had questioned CMRL managing director Sasidharan S. Kartha’s daughter Shiby S. Kartha, Saran S. Kartha, joint managing director of CMRL, and Jaya S Kartha, wife of Mr. Sasidharan Kartha.
The issue began in January 2019 when the Income Tax Department stumbled upon some fictitious expenses worth Rs 130 crore during raids at CMRL.
The matter reached before the Income Tax Settlement Commission which found that CMRL gave bribes to different individuals.
This led to the starting of an investigation by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) ending up in unearthing of fictitious cash expenses of Rs 182 crore for 15 years used by CMRL to pay bribes.
Finally the matter was taken cognizance by the ED which registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on the basis of a prosecution complaint filed by the SFIO before a court in Ernakulam in April 2025. During the course of the raids, the agency had frozen ₹18.36 crore in 242 accounts identified during the search operations held in the pay-off case.
ED grills Veena second time
