ED finds hawala trail in CMRL payments to Veena Vijayan’s firm

Kochi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has said that its investigation into alleged illegal payments by Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) to Exalogic Solutions, owned by Veena Vijayan, has uncovered evidence of money being transferred through hawala channels, The Indian Express reported.

In a statement issued a day after raids at eight locations, the agency said it had seized statements and digital material relating to alleged hawala transactions. It claimed that Veena had handled funds beyond her known sources of income and that handwritten accounts contained amounts exceeding the payments received from CMRL.

According to the ED, the records indicated a transfer of around 3.49 lakh UAE dirhams to Dubai, equivalent to approximately Rs 85 lakh. At the same time, entries relating to Indian currency amounted to about Rs 20.05 crore.

The latest action follows earlier findings by the Income Tax Department that Exalogic Solutions had received Rs 2.78 crore from CMRL, allegedly under the guise of IT consultancy services. The department had also flagged a Rs 50 lakh loan extended to the firm by Empower India Capital Investment, which is operated by CMRL managing director Sasidharan Kartha, despite the absence of any repayment.

The ED launched its PMLA investigation following findings by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office concerning alleged corporate fraud and bribery.

Tuesday’s searches reportedly focused largely on locations linked to CPI(M) leaders considered close to former minister and Beypore MLA Muhammed Riyas, Veena’s husband. The ED had previously conducted searches linked to Veena and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in May.

Veena has not publicly responded to the latest developments, while Riyas has maintained that the transactions were lawful.