Kochi: Former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena Vijayan is all set to face another round of questioning by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), with the agency intensifying its probe following fresh revelations in the Exalogic-CMRL financial transactions case.
What began as an investigation into alleged monthly payments to Veena’s company has now widened into a much more serious probe involving a larger network of financial transactions, including suspected hawala dealings, according to ED findings.
More significantly for the CPI(M), the investigation appears to have moved beyond Veena and towards people close to her husband, former Minister and CPI(M) legislator P.A. Mohammed Riyas.
The ED’s recent raids at nine locations in and around Kozhikode targeting six people, including two senior-level CPI(M) members of the Kozhikode party organisation, have sent shockwaves through the party.
The developments have left the CPI(M) leadership increasingly jittery, particularly because of the possibility that the investigation could eventually move from Riyas’s close aides towards the former minister himself and potentially to Vijayan.
The ED is understood to have obtained significant information from handwritten records recovered during its investigation into Veena.
The agency has reportedly traced details relating to transactions involving around Rs 20 crore and is examining where the money was transferred and how it was received.
Financial dealings involving two companies are also under scrutiny.
The agency is now likely to issue Veena another notice for questioning next week.
Investigators are also examining the SIM card used by her as part of efforts to establish the chain of communications and financial transactions.
The widening probe has triggered a political counteroffensive by the CPI(M). The party suspects a deliberate political agenda behind the ED’s decision to publicly identify Veena as the “daughter of former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan” in its press release.
The CPI(M) believes the unusual reference was intended to generate political impact and that the investigation could eventually be used to target the party’s top leadership. The party is therefore preparing to turn the issue into a political battle.
A major political convention has been called in Kozhikode Sunday to explain to party workers and the public what the CPI(M) describes as the targeting of the party by the central agency. State secretary M.V. Govindan is likely to lead the political campaign. The party leadership is particularly concerned by the lack of a strong response to the recent ED raids.
The searches at the residences of people close to Riyas have raised fresh questions within the CPI(M) over how far the investigation could go.
For the moment, all eyes are on Riyas.
The crucial question confronting the CPI(M) is whether the ED’s widening probe will stop with Veena, move towards Riyas and his associates, or eventually reach Vijayan himself. What began as a monthly payment controversy is therefore rapidly assuming a far more serious political and financial dimension for the CPI(M).
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