The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday raided 10 premises, including former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s residences in Kannur and Thiruvananthapuram, in connection with its probe into alleged fraudulent transactions between a Kochi-based metal manufacturing company and a software solutions company run by Veena T, the former chief minister’s daughter.
Search operations by emergency department officials began simultaneously around 8 am at multiple locations in cities like Kozhikode, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. The buildings included the rented residence of the CPI(M) leader at Bakery Junction in Thiruvananthapuram, his permanent home at Pinarayi in Kannur, the house of Veena’s husband and former minister BA Muhammad Riyas in Kozhikode and the homes of senior officials of Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) in Kochi. Veena was with her father in Thiruvananthapuram during the search operations.
During the raids, senior leaders of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and hundreds of party workers protested outside Vijayan’s homes in Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur, against what they described as “political vendetta” being carried out by the BJP-led Union government through central agencies. As the raids ended around 2.30 pm and officials started moving out of their residence in the state capital, angry CPI workers attacked their vehicles, smashing windshields and windows. Television footage showed party activists targeting the vehicles of district officials with bricks and stones. Agency employees were not injured.
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The Cantonment Police arrested four CPI(M) workers for their alleged involvement in the attack on ED officials’ vehicles, police officers said.
An official at the directorate, who did not wish to reveal his identity, said: “Search operations were carried out to collect evidence of money laundering under the Anti-Money Laundering Act. During the search, our officials found evidence of investments and financial bank details of the former prime minister’s daughter. These are being analysed.”
Later in the day, the agency claimed in a statement: “During the searches, several incriminating records/accounts, digital evidence, investments, and foreign funds were found in banks. The emergency department has been frozen for approx. $18.36 crore in around 242 accounts identified during searches. The evidence found is currently being analysed.”
The raids came a day after the Kerala High Court gave the green light to the ED to continue its investigations into alleged acts of bribery and money laundering by CMRL officials.
The issue mainly revolves around monthly payments to tune into $1.72 lakh crore between 2017 and 2019 was provided by CMRL to Exalogic Solutions Private Limited, a now-defunct IT and software solutions company run by Veena T. In 2023, the Income Tax Interim Settlement Board ruled that though Exalogic had signed a contract with CMRL to provide software and marketing services, the former had not provided any services despite receiving payments for the same. The payments are allegedly kickbacks for rendering services to the metal manufacturing company while Vijayan was chief minister between 2016 and 2021. The ED had also pointed out that Empower India Capital Investment Private Limited, managed by CMRL MD Sasidharan Kartha, had provided loans to Exalogic amounting to $50 lakh, even though the latter failed to pay the installments in time.
Reacting to the ED raids, Vijayan criticized the BJP for using central agencies to target opposition leaders, and also criticized the Congress leadership, especially Rahul Gandhi, for encouraging such actions.
“The BJP has misused central agencies to target opposition figures, while the Congress, the main opposition party in Parliament, encouraged the party’s erstwhile excesses of democracy, federalism and political monarchy with silent glee. Rahul Gandhi has publicly questioned why the CEO did not take action against me. I hope today has put a smile on his face,” Vijayan said.
However, Home Minister and Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said that the state police were not aware of the raids conducted by the ED on the former chief minister.
“The police were not informed about the raids. Everyone knows that the understanding, including in the last elections, was between the Communist Party of India and the BJP. They have to convince the people, not us,” he said.
