Speaking at the inauguration of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s [CPI(M)] local committee office at Mannar in Alappuzha, Mr. Vijayan termed the ED’s request to the State Police Chief (SPC) to register a case against him and his family under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) as a “shameful” subversion of the criminal justice system for political ends.
“One fine morning, they (ED officials) came to my house at the behest of their political masters, hell-bent on ensnaring me in a criminal case to retard the party and me politically. The ED’s examination yielded no incriminating evidence. Now, the ED is attempting a new tack to achieve the political aim of its controllers and those who play second fiddle to its masters by sending a brazenly false set of accusations, masked as a report, to the State’s law enforcement to implicate me in a corruption case,” he said.
Defends Veena
Mr. Vijayan also sought to defend Ms. Veena, who is at the centre of the controversy. The ED had accused Ms. Veena’s now-defunct firm, Exalogic Solutions, a software consultancy, of receiving sizeable amounts of money from the CMRL, a company in which the Keralam government has a minority stake, allegedly without providing any tangible service during the 2017-2021 period.The ED also sought to portray the transaction involving Exalogic Solutions as a classic case of proxy corruption, aimed at camouflaging CMRL’s alleged backhanders to Mr. Vijayan, the then Keralam Chief Minister, as legitimate payments for services received. The ED also sought to implicate Mr. Riyas, accusing him of using his Gulf connections to launder illicit wealth.
Mr. Vijayan said Ms. Veena’s transactions with the CMRL were above board, through banking channels and tax-compliant. “The payment was made through official banking channels and duly accounted for, while all applicable taxes had also been paid... .There is no secrecy,” he added.
According to him, Ms. Veena had joined a leading information technology (IT) company after completing her studies and later worked in foreign countries as well. She subsequently worked for another company before starting an IT firm of her own, through which she provided IT services to several individuals and institutions. The transaction with the CMRL was one among those engagements.
Blames media
Mr. Vijayan also accused the media of mindlessly parroting the cherry-picked information leaked to them by CPI(M)’s political rivals to destroy the party’s credibility by seeking to tarnish him. “Mastheads and bold headlines baying for attention to spite the party and me will not, as in the past, pass muster in the court or among the people. My life is an open book,” Mr. Vijayan added.Earlier in the day, he accused the ED of using statements obtained from approvers as evidence against the CPI(M).
Inaugurating the valedictory session of the centenary celebrations of the Janatha Cooperative Bank at Ithithanam, near Changanassery, he criticised the Central agency against the backdrop of the investigation into the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank case. “Some of those who were accused in the case were influenced by the ED and later made approvers. The situation now is such that the approvers are required to make statements according to what the ED, or those directing it, have in mind,” he alleged.