Probe against Vijayan’s daughter begins

SERIOUS Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) began to probe Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter’s IT firm on Friday, according to IANS as quoted by online news sites.

The Kerala Assembly also witnessed ruckus after the Congress-led opposition and asked the Speaker to discuss the issue of the Chief Minister’s daughter. However, the Speaker A.N. Shamsheer declined the opposition’s request.

“Two statutory agencies are now probing IT scam. What’s to be noted is that the probe by SFIO is grave. It’s high time that Vijayan quits,” Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan told media persons outside the assembly.

He said that Vijayan was scared due to this issue and was not even present in the assembly. “All along, the Chief Minister has said that the Income Tax Department has never allowed her daughter to explain her company’s position. Now even the Registrar of Companies say that despite asking for the erring company’s response, they never gave any cleared the position,” Satheesan said.

The issue came to the limelight after a media report, quoting an Income Tax Department office, claimed that the Chief Minister’s firm had received Rs 1.72 crore from mining company CMRL, where the state-owned Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) has a stake.

The issue was first taken up by first-time Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan.

The SFIO -- acting on a preliminary probe by a three-member team of the Registrar of Companies which submitted its findings -- paved the way for the SFIO to investigate the case.

A six-member SFIO team has already started to probe the dealings of all three parties - Veena’s firm, KSIDC and CMRL.

A probe by the SFIO is the highest level of probe under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and they have enormous powers which include even arresting those who have erred.