Kochi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued summons to nine people, including T. Veena, daughter of Pinarayi Vijayan, in connection with the money-laundering case linked to the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) pay-off case. They have been asked to appear before the ED's Kochi office for questioning on Friday.
Summons were also issued to Sasidharan Kartha, chairman and managing director of CMRL, Sharan S. Kartha, Joint Managing Director of CMRL, and K.S. Suresh Kumar, Chief General Manager of the company, among others.
A special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) recently directed that documents attached to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) chargesheet be provided to the ED. The court rejected objections raised by CMRL against the ED's request.
Under the order, the ED will receive certified copies of 134 documents contained in 54 volumes. These include records relating to the CMRL–Exalogic financial transactions, correspondence between the parties, Veena’s statement, details gathered during the questioning of CMRL officials, and bank account information of Veena and Exalogic. The SFIO did not oppose the transfer of the documents.
CMRL argued that further proceedings based on the SFIO report had been stayed and that it was not a party to the ED's application. The company also contended that documents and statements submitted by one investigating agency in a case could not be used by another agency in a separate case and therefore the application should be rejected.
However, the court observed that there was nothing improper in providing the documents to the ED in its capacity as an investigating agency. Rejecting CMRL’s objections, the court ordered that the records be handed over to the ED.