Cong asks Vijayan has ED questioned his daughter about IT deals

KOCHI: Congress on Tuesday asked Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to answer if Enforcement Directorate (ED) has questioned his daughter Veena Vijayan about her IT firm business deals.

Leader of Opposition (LoP) V.D Satheesan said that the payment received by her IT firm under the guise of providing IT services was false, as her firm never had any technical expertise to give CMRL any sort of services.

The agreement between the two was to convert black money into legal money and that was what the IT department brought out.

“I wish to ask a direct question to Vijayan to say if the ED officials have conducted a probe into the money received by Veena’s IT firm. Once he answers, I will reveal more as this so called agreement between the two was a clear cut corrupt deal,” said Satheesan.

It was in August that first time Congress legislator Mathew Kuzhalnadan wrote to State Finance Minister K.N Balagopal based on the report prepared by a department of the Income Tax claiming that Veena and her firm had received Rs 1.72 crore from CMRL - a Kochi based mining company.

It further pointed out that CMRL officials had mentioned that it was not for any service rendered, which Kuzhalnaden first pointed out that it was the gratis which CMRL got for his business, as Vijayan holds the crucial portfolio of Pollution Board, where sanctions and procedures for a mining company was cleared.