Exalogic-CMRL payoff case: Kerala CM says police inquiry not aimed at ‘targeting anyone or taking revenge’

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A day after the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government in Keralam ordered a police inquiry into the politically charged CMRL-Exalogic payoff controversy centring on Leader of the Opposition and former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter T. Veena and son-in-law and former Minister P.A. Mohamed Riyas, Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan said on Wednesday that the government’s intent was “not to target or take revenge on anyone.”

“The government was obliged to take this decision after proper legal scrutiny. After the information shared on record by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under Section 66 (2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the government sought legal advice. The Advocate General as well as the Director General of Prosecution had said that an inquiry can be ordered. The Supreme Court ruled in Lalita Kumari versus the State of Uttar Pradesh in 2013 that registering an FIR in a suspected commercial fraud or corruption case depends on whether the mandatory preliminary inquiry reveals a cognisable offence. All of these processes have been followed,” he said.

Last month, the ED had sent a 25-page report to the State Police Chief, Ravada Chandrasekhar, seeking Mr Vijayan’s prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1985 (PCA).

The ED had also claimed in the report that it had confiscated a diary detailing the allegedly illicit financial transaction during a raid at Mr Vijayan’s house in Thiruvananthapuram in May.

Mr Vijayan had disputed the existence of any incriminating entries in the diary. At the same time, Mr Riyas maintained that the personal journal contained scribblings about Ms Veena’s business plans in the Gulf, which, he claimed, had yet to materialise.

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