The top legal officer of the Keralam government is understood to have advised the State government to accept the report of the Directorate of Enforcement, which accused the former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter T. Veena, her husband P.A. Mohamed Riyas and a few others in the CMRL-Exalogic pay-off case of engaging in money laundering, and register a First Information Report.
The ED had submitted the report to the State Police Chief last week seeking to initiate further action in the case. The investigation agency had reportedly arrived at a conclusion that the accused, including Mr. Vijayan, Mr. Riyas and Ms. Veena, were involved in money laundering in association with Sasidharan Kartha, the managing director of Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited, and his associates.
K. Jaju Babu, the Advocate General, is understood to have advised the registration of the FIR against all those named in the report and to invoke provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The police authority is legally bound to accept the report under Section 66 (2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 and proceed with register the FIR, in the wake of the principles laid down by the Supreme Court, sources indicated.
A final call on the follow-up action on the ED report will be taken after a meeting of the Advocate General with State Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan. The AG had earlier sought reports from the Additional Advocate General and the Director General of Prosecution on various aspects of the case, sources indicated.
On its part, the ED shared the information with the State police by invoking Section 66 (2) of the Act, which states that if the director is of the opinion that the provisions of any other law for the time being in force are contravened, then the director shall share the information with the agency concerned for necessary action. The scope of further action on the report in the CMRL-Exalogic payoff case was discussed based on the recent judgments of the Supreme Court, sources indicated.
Incidentally, a few political leaders, including the State Ministers, had earlier admitted that they had received funds from Mr. Kartha after a diary noting on the payments had surfaced. The leaders had played down the receipt of money as a case of collection of funds from an industrialist for their respective political parties. A section of political leaders had also demanded a probe into the money received by these leaders.
Incidentally, it came to light over the past few days that Mr. Kartha and the former CFO of CMRL had retracted their statements given to ED, which formed the basis of the case. The duo had also accused the ED of arm-twisting them to give false evidence against politicians.
Published – September 19, 2026 09:32 am IST
