BJP leader moves HC against Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter’s foreign bank account

BJP leader Shone George has filed an application in the Kerala High Court, alleging that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter's now defunct company Exalogic "parked" huge sums in an account in Abu Dhabi and that Canadian company SNC Lavalin routed funds to the USA through it.

Calling the allegations “serious,” the Congress has urged Vijayan to clarify if they are true.

Allegations against Vijayan

The BJP has accused Vijayan of being a part of the alleged corruption in awarding a contract to Canadian firm SNC Lavalin when he was the state Power Minister in 1996, which had allegedly caused loss to the state exchequer.

Vijayan and two others were discharged in the case by a special court in Thiruvananthapuram in 2013, a verdict upheld by the Kerala High Court in 2017 when the CBI filed an appeal against the discharge.

The agency then filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the high court's order and the matter is still pending before the apex court.

Fresh allegations

The application by Shone George, a lawyer and son of veteran politician P C George, has been moved as part of his plea in the high court seeking an investigation into Vijayan's daughter Veena T's company under the Companies Act and action against it by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO).

Later, the Centre has told the high court that a probe under the Companies Act had been initiated and the SFIO was also looking into the matter.

In his application, George has claimed that according to "reliable information" received from a person working abroad, a huge trail of money "emanating from the transactions" under investigation by the SFIO "were parked by the culprits in an account maintained with the Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank in the UAE in the name of Exalogic Consulting".

He has claimed that the account “was operated by Veena T and one Suneesh M during the year 2016 to 2019 and huge funds from SNC Lavalin and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) were routed through the said account to various accounts maintained in banks in the USA”.

George had filed the plea seeking the SFIO probe into Veena's firm Exalogic following the controversy which erupted in Kerala after a Malayalam daily reported last year that Kochi-based mining company CMRL had paid a total of ₹1.72 crore to the chief minister's daughter between 2017 and 2020.

The news report cited the ruling of an interim board for settlement and said that CMRL previously had an agreement with Veena's IT firm for consultancy and software support services.

It also alleged that although no service was rendered by her firm, the amount was paid on a monthly basis "due to her relationship with a prominent person".

CM must respond: Congress

Expressing shock over the allegations levelled by the BJP leader, Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly, V D Satheesan, urged Vijayan to make it clear whether such an account existed.

“Allegations that have been raised against Chief Minister Vijayan's daughter and her company Exalogic are shocking. Does the chief minister’s daughter and a person connected to him have a joint account abroad? Has money come into this account? The chief minister should answer," Satheesan said.

Referring to the allegation, he said money was deposited in this account by prominent companies like SNC Lavlin and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

"The CM has the right to say whether this is correct (or not). If the allegation is false, legal action should be taken against those who made it," he said.

Taking a dig at Vijayan, the Congress leader said the usual practice is to "hide in the den of silence" when the allegations are raised against him and his family.

He alleged that the CPI (M)-Sangh Parivar nexus was the reason for sabotaging the investigation against the Marxist party leaders in various cases.

(With inputs from agencies)