"Taxes Paid": Kerala Government On Firm Owned By Chief Minister's Daughter

The Kerala government has made it clear that the IT firm owned by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter had duly paid the required Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) for her business transactions with a Kochi-based private minerals company.

The government's clarification came amid a raging row over financial transactions between the IT firm owner by Mr Vijayan's daughter, T Veena, and the minerals company.

The Department of State Goods and Services Tax on Saturday informed Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan, who had levelled corruption allegations against Mr Vijayan's daughter, that the matter he had raised with regard to her IT solutions firm had been verified.

Mr Kuzhalnadan had raised corruption charges against the transaction between Veena's firm and the Kochi-based minerals company.

He had sought to know whether Veena had remitted IGST for the over Rs 1 crore that she had received from the minerals company.

He had also recently sought a vigilance probe into the corruption allegations against Ms Veena's IT firm.

In a letter, the state tax department informed the Congress legislator that during the verification, it was found that the company owned by the chief minister's daughter had remitted the IGST for the amount that she received from Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd.

However, the brief letter didn't mention any other details, including the amount she had paid as tax.

Sources here said the GST Commissioner has already submitted a report in this regard to Finance Minister KN Balagopal.

A controversy erupted in Kerala recently over some financial transactions between the Kochi-based private minerals company and the chief minister's daughter and her IT firm.

Evidence also cropped up that showed that the company had dealings with top leaders of both the ruling CPI(M) as well as the opposition Congress-led UDF.

The issue came to the fore after a Malayalam daily reported that Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd paid a total of Rs 1.72 crore to the chief minister's daughter between 2017 and 2020.

The news report, citing a ruling of an Interim Board for Settlement, said that the Kochi-based company previously had an agreement with Ms Veena's IT firm for consultancy and software support services.

Despite the fact that no service was rendered by her firm, the amount was paid on a monthly basis "due to her relationship with a prominent person", the report said, citing the deposition of the minerals company authorities before the Income Tax Department.

However, Mr Vijayan rubbished the charges and said the allegations were made to tarnish his image and defame him.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)