Kerala CM's daughter got suspicious payments of Rs 1.72 cr for services not rendered: Report

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter T Veena and her company were allegedly paid Rs 1.72 crore by a public company for services not provided by them, The News Minute reported on Wednesday citing an order from the Income Tax Interim Board for Settlement (IT-IBS). Veena runs a company, Exalogic Solutions Pvt Ltd. It is alleged that Veena and her company received Rs 1.72 crore from Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) in monthly installments for services they did not provide.

The CMRL had shown the amount as business expenditure to avail input tax credit. However, the tax settlement board rejected the claims saying the payments were made for services that were never provided by Veena or her company, Exalogic.
  
TNM reported that the CMRL in December 2016 engaged Veena as their IT and Marketing Consultant on a retainership basis with effect from January 1, 2017 and said that she will be paid a consolidated sum of Rs 5 lakh per month for her services. 

Veena and her company had also signed an agreement with CMRL dated March 2, 2017. As per the agreement, the report said, Exalogic was to provide services of "development, maintenance and management of softwares for daily business and operation of CMRL’s corporate office and factory located in Aluva". The company, as per the agreement, was entitled to receive a monthly remuneration of Rs 3 lakh.

However, CMRL CFO KS Suresh Kumar, chief general manager P Suresh Kumar, and Company Secretary gave statements to investigators in January 2019 that they were yet to see any software development made by the company till date, the report said, adding that CMRL MD Sasidharan Kartha in a sworn statement said that both "these vendors (Veena and Exalogic) had not provided any work, services or any software maintenance or consultancy or any other form of services".

Following the probe, the board found that the payments did not "qualify as a business expenditure".  

Now, a controversy has erupted over these suspicious payments and the Congress party in Kerala has demanded a judicial probe into the allegations. The opposition party has urged the chief minister to respond to the allegations raised against his daughter and set up a judicial probe.

The Congress targeted the chief minister and the ruling Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPIM) and asked why "there is no inquiry into the crores going to the Chief Minister's family". Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee President K Sudhakaran questioned whether there was any reason to doubt the investigation conducted by a "responsible agency." However, the ruling CPIM) has dismissed the charges, calling them an attempt to tarnish the party's image ahead of the Puthuppally by-election scheduled to take place on November 5.