Kochi: Kerala Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter T Veena appeared before the Directorate of Enforcement
(ED) on Wednesday in connection with the Money Laundering case linked to the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL).
She was accompanied by her husband Mohamed Riyas, MLA.
This is the first time she is appearing before the ED 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.
ED had summoned her on June 12. But Veena had sought postponement of appearance citing health grounds. The ED later issued a fresh summons directing her to appear on June 17, the Hindu reported.
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.
She is the director of Empower India Capital Investments Pvt Ltd which had extended loans worth ₹50 lakh to Exalogic despite the company allegedly failing to make timely repayments.
The Income Tax Department had unearthed some fictitious expenses worth Rs 130 crore during raids at CMRL in January 2019.
The fraudulent expenses were also admitted by CMRL before the Income Tax Settlement Commission which found that the company gave bribes to various persons. An investigation by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) fictitious cash expenses of Rs 182 crore for 15 years used by CMRL to bribe various persons, it said.
The ED had 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 Vijayan
