Thiruvananthapuram: Keralam Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Wednesday, September 9, said that the ED letter for registration of an FIR against senior CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan and others, in connection with the alleged CMRL bribery case will be scrutinised legally and thereafter, steps in accordance with law will be taken.
Satheesan, at a press conference here following a cabinet meeting chaired by him, said there was “no politics in it”.
“A letter has been received from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) seeking registration of an FIR against Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter and son-in-law.
“Since a central agency has sent the letter, it will be examined legally before taking a decision. We have to scrutinise the seriousness of the allegations made by the ED. We cannot reject it merely because ED has sent it,” he said.
Section 66(2) of PMLA allows the ED to share investigative findings with other law enforcement or regulatory agencies if it believes another law has been broken.
Satheesan said that the letter contains major allegations against Vijayan and others and the ED was investigating the same.
“We have sent it for legal scrutiny. A decision will be taken accordingly. Law will take its own course,” he added.
Regarding allegations that some current ministers in the UDF government in the past have received money from the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL), he said that political parties and leaders do take financial contributions from companies.
“That is different from this (ED case). ED has not just mentioned receipt of money from CMRL. There is much more in their letter,” Satheesan said.
Reacting to CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan’s allegations that Congress and BJP would probably enter into a deal in the matter, the CM said that the Left party was currently trying to justify its various actions.
He also referred to Govindan’s wife being made a candidate in the state assembly polls, which have faced immense criticism, especially from within the Left party.
The CM also said that the Congress does not have any double standards on the issue.
He said that when Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi questioned for over 50 hours by ED, the Congress had cooperated with it and party workers in Delhi had not destroyed the agency’s vehicles, like the CPI(M) workers did in Keralam after a search at Vijayan’s rented accommodation earlier this year.
“At the same time we criticised the politics behind that move,” he said.
His remarks come in the wake of ED sending a letter to DGP Ravada A Chandrasekhar seeking registration of an FIR against Vijayan, his daughter Veena T and her husband P A Mohamed Riyas and some others in connection with the alleged CMRL bribery case on the basis of “evidence” gathered during its probe and searches conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED has alleged that Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) made fraudulent payments of Rs 2.78 crore to Veena’s now-defunct company, Exalogic Solutions, under the guise of “IT consultancy services”.
The federal agency had searched premises linked to Veena, who was living with Vijayan at a rented accommodation in Thiruvananthapuram, in June and subsequently questioned her.
The CPI(M) has termed the ED move as a “political vendetta” and asserted it would deal with the matter both legally and politically.
Follow on Twitter | Edited by Neha Khan | 
