Thiruvananthapuram: A controversy has erupted in Kerala over some financial transactions between a private minerals company and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter T Veena and her IT firm.
Evidence has also cropped up that also 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 recently reported that Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) paid a total of RS 1.72 crore to the Chief Minister's daughter during a period of three years between 2017 and 2020, reported Press Trust of India.
The newspaper report, citing the recent ruling of an Interim Board for Settlement, said that the Kochi-based company previously had an agreement with 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.
As the news report snowballed into a political row, the BJP attacked Chief Minister Vijayan and urged him to break his silence over the allegations cropping up against his daughter.
The Congress, however, went soft on the matter, prompting the saffron party to question the grand old party for not raising it in the ongoing Assembly Session.
Lashing out at the CPI(M)-led LDF and the Congress-headed UDF over the issue, BJP state Chief K Surendran said the ruling and opposition parties in Kerala are the ones who accept money from "robbers" on a monthly basis.
Not just the Chief Minister's daughter, but the Opposition leaders also received "monthly payments" from the mining company, he said, while addressing the party's assembly march here.
Criticising the UDF for not raising the raging issue in the Assembly, Surendran charged that the opposition leaders in the state became the ones who extended all support to the corruption of the CM and his daughter.
Leader of Opposition in the state assembly VD Satheesan rejected the criticism, saying that even if the opposition had given a notice for adjournment over the issue, the CM would not have replied.
However, the ruling CPI(M) categorically rubbished the charges and claimed that the news report was totally baseless and that the Chief Minister's daughter received the amount as per the legally valid contract between her IT firm and the minerals company.
"A contract between two companies is a transparent one. All the financial transactions that were part of it were done through the bank," the party's state secretariat said in a statement on Thursday.
Such a legal transaction between the two companies was depicted as a monthly payment, and nothing wrong has happened in connection with the deal, it said.
"Children of political activists also have the same right as all other citizens to take up any legitimate occupation. Veena also started a consulting firm based on this. All its operations are transparent," the Marxist party further said.
Stating that the accused company itself made it clear that there was no wrongdoing in this regard, the ruling party also said that the chief minister has nothing to do with these issues.
A conspiracy was clearly behind unnecessarily dragging the name of the chief minister in the settlement order, it said adding that the remarks were made without hearing Veena's version.
The people of the state will reject such false stories just as they did when similar allegations cropped up against the Chief Minister's family before, the party leadership added.
However, rejecting the CPI(M) 's claims, Satheesan told reporters that the verdict of the interim settlement board of the Income Tax Department indicated grave corruption by the Chief Minister's daughter.
"The finding of the settlement board was that the money was paid to Veena's company without providing any service. The minerals firm's officials themselves gave such a statement," he said.
So it is very clear that the agreement was made between the two companies with the objective of legalising the transaction of illegal money, Satheesan alleged.
The government should register a case under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and legal proceedings will be initiated if they do not do it, he said.
"The allegation against the Chief Minister's daughter was not an issue that can be raised as an adjournment motion. A matter falling under the purview of the Prevention of Corruption Act cannot be raised in the House as an adjournment motion," he explained.
Senior BJP leader and union minister V Muraleedharan also criticised the Congress for not raising the matter in the House, saying it was the latest example of politics of compromise between the LDF and the UDF in the state.
Muraleedharan said there was only one united front in the state, and it was led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Whether it is the issue of corruption or religious beliefs, Vijayan is the person who takes decisions, and Satheesan obeys all his directives, he charged.
The Congress-led UDF's failure to raise the issue in the assembly is "shameful", he added.
In Delhi, BJP national spokesperson Tom Vadakkan dubbed the payment made to the Kerala CM's daughter's company as "Veena Tax" in a statement.
"The New Delhi bench of the Income Tax Interim Settlement Board ruled that the money was given considering the relationship with a 'prominent person'. Veena and her company, Exalogic Solutions, had agreed to supply CMRL with IT, marketing consulting, and software services," Vadakkan, who is from Kerala, said.
However, the income tax examination discovered that no services were provided, he said.
CMRL Managing Director SN Sasidharan Kartha said the money was paid in monthly instalments as per the contract, he added.
"The Income Tax Department alleged that Veena and Exalogic received Rs 1.72 crore during 2017-20, which is an 'illegal transaction'. The Income Tax Department has been able to demonstrate with the help of convincing evidence that the money was paid for services that were not provided, according to a settlement board," the BJP leader said.
Given the nature of these allegations and the questions raised by the Income Tax Department, it is of the utmost importance that the matter be investigated central investigative agencies, Vadakkan added.
Documents seized from the residence of CMRL's chief financial officer KS Suresh Kumar, who worked with the company for 27 years, and his subsequent statement revealed that prominent politicians from the Congress, Muslim League and the CPI(M) were "recipients of cash" running into Rs 95 crore, he claimed.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)