Kerala serious fraud probe has 'broad scope'
₹135 crore were “made to influential persons, state government functionaries, government servants, media houses etc…" the person said, quoting from the order. The broad scope of the investigation has not previously been reported. P.
Rajeev, Kerala’s minister for law, industries and coir, told Mint that KSIDC, a state agency that promotes industrial development in the state with term loans and equity support, will respond to the allegations. A person informed about KSIDC’s functioning told Mint on condition of anonymity, “KSIDC has moved the Kerala High Court. To promote industry in the state, KSIDC has invested in over 200 companies.
Of those, 76 companies are active now. CMRL is one of them. KSIDC does not involve itself in their day-to-day management and if a manager in any of those companies commits a breach, KSIDC has nothing to do with that.
KSIDC has filed a writ petition in the Kerala High Court seeking to be excluded from the investigation." The state agency has a 13.4% stake in CMRL. One of the transactions the SFIO will look into is a contract that CMRL had with Exalogic Solutions Pvt Ltd, a one-person company founded by Veena T, daughter of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. On 16 February, the Karnataka High Court rejected a petition from Exalogic Solutions challenging the SFIO probe, according to a copy of the order seen by Mint.
“The transaction between Exalogic Solutions and CMRL was an old software contract. The amount is very small, unlike cases probed by SFIO in the past involving multiple crores," a person informed about the transaction between the two companies said on condition of anonymity. The SFIO probe order mentions the transaction between the two companies to be of ₹1.72 crore.
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