Kerala: SFIO begins probe against Vijayan’s daughter, Congress demands resignation

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has begun to probe Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan daughter’s IT firm on Friday.

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 is 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 given an opportunity to 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 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 the 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 includes even to arrest those who have erred.