Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has denied unequivocally the allegations that he has received any illegal gratification from Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd. (CMRL), directly or indirectly, through his daughter T.Veena’s firm, Exalogic Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

In an affidavit filed in response to a public interest petition before the Kerala High Court seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the allegations, he said that “the insinuation that funds from the CMRL were routed to me through Exalogic or any other entity is false, vexatious and devoid of any credible evidence,” adding that the allegations are “politically motivated and devoid of truth.”

‘Transactions via bank’

The Chief Minister said it is a matter of record that the CMRL, a mineral processing company, engaged Exalogic as an IT service provider around 2017. As per the agreement with the CMRL, “Exalogic was to provide certain software and marketing consultancy services to the CMRL for a fee. To my knowledge, the entire transactions were accounted for through bank. However, I had no role whatsoever in this private contract. I am not privy to the specifics of my daughter’s business activities, which were independent of me. At no point did I intervene, assist, or influence the CMRL or any other entity to enter into or continue contract with Exalogic,” he stated in the affidavit.

On ‘benami company’

Mr. Vijayan also pointed out that his annual asset disclosures submitted to the Election Commission, as well as his income tax returns, reflected no unusual or unexplained increase of wealth during or after the relevant period. Therefore, the allegation in the public interest litigation that Exalogic is his “benami company” is baseless.

He pointed out that the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) is probing the affairs of the CMRL, including its payments to Exalogic. Therefore, a parallel investigation cannot be undertaken by other agencies including the CBI. Besides, no prima facie case of criminal conduct is made out against him.