ED summons Kerala ex-CM’s daughter, CMRL officials in money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Veena T and officials of Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd for questioning in a money laundering probe linked to alleged irregular financial transactions involving Exalogic Solutions and CMRL

Kochi: The Enforcement Directorate has summoned former Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena T and officials of sand mining company Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) for questioning in a money laundering case.

The agency said Veena has been asked to depose at the central agency’s zonal office here on June 12. Her statement will be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). CMRL managing director Sasidharan Kartha and other company officials are among the nine others who have been summoned for questioning on different dates beginning this week, the agency said.

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The investigation pertains to alleged irregularities in CMRL’s financial transactions and its links with Veena’s now-defunct company Exalogic Solutions Private Limited.

The ED is probing an allegation that CMRL made fraudulent payments worth Rs 2.78 crore to Exalogic Solutions under the guise of ‘IT consultancy services’. Another company named Empower India Capital Investment Private Limited operated by Kartha had also extended loans worth Rs 50 lakh to Exalogic Solutions despite its failure to make timely repayments, the ED said.

The agency said the CMRL management and Veena generated “proceeds of crime” in this process and that it wants to understand the rationale behind these transactions from them.

The PMLA case was filed in March 2024 after the ED took cognisance of a complaint registered by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), the investigation arm of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, which later filed a prosecution complaint (chargesheet) before an Ernakulam court in April 2025.

The CMRL was caught in the crosshairs of central probe agencies following an Income Tax Department raid in January 2019, which unearthed alleged fake expenses to the tune of Rs 130 crore. Court documents reveal that the company had “inflated” its expenditure by Rs 133.82 crore by booking “bogus” cash expenses under the heads of ‘transportation’ and ‘sludge handling’ between the financial years 2012-13 and 2018-19, and generated cash that was used to make illegal payments to politicians, parties, media houses and public servants.

The court papers state that CMRL CFO and MD “admitted” before tax authorities that such cash payments were made to ensure smooth business operations, as they faced threats of closure of the business and environmental challenges.

Officials said CMRL “admitted” to making these “fake” expenses before the Income Tax Settlement Commission. Later, a complaint was made to the SFIO. In its prosecution complaint, the SFIO said that CMRL made fictitious cash expenses worth Rs 182 crore over a span of 15 years to “bribe” various people, and that it paid Rs 91 crore towards transport services to companies owned by the Kartha family.

Last week, the Kerala High Court dismissed an appeal filed by CMRL against a single-judge verdict that allowed the ED to continue its money laundering probe into this case.