'Organised loot by one family in Kerala': Cong MLA slams CM Vijayan

In a scathing attack on Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Congress legislator Mathew Kuzhalnaden on Saturday said "what is happening in the state is an organised loot by one family". 

He targetted Vijayan's daughter Veena Vijayan's IT company based in Bengaluru - Exalogic, saying this company has not just collected money from a Kochi-based mining firm, CMRL, but others as well. 

"What has surfaced is only the tip of the iceberg, there are many others also. This is an organised loot by one family," Kuzhalnaden said. 

Veena Vijayan found herself in trouble when a news report mentioned last week that CMRL had paid her and Exalogic a sum of Rs 1.72 crore during 2017-2020 for IT-based services rendered to the Kochi firm. 

The report claimed that the Income Tax Appellate Board, while examining the tax returns of CMRL, stumbled upon payments made to Veena and her IT firm. It was also found based on information provided by a few CMRL company officials that no service was rendered by her firm to the company. 

Explaining the details of Veena's IT firm, the Congress leader said he had asked a few questions to her about her company but there was no reply by her. 

The Congress MLA said that instead, CPI-M state secretary M.V. Govindan and the party secretariat replied that she is heading a company which was doing legitimate business with CMRL, adding everything was transparent and there was nothing wrong. 

"If that be the case, I wish to point out from their audit reports that her company has paid only Rs 6 lakh as taxes, while she has to pay Rs 30 lakh as taxes, as her firm has collected Rs 1.72 crore as service charges from CMRL," Kuzhalnaden said. 

"Kerala is struggling for finances and I am now in front of you and am sending a complaint to Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal that there has been tax evasion by Veena's firm. I challenge the CPI-M and their leaders that either they accept that what Veena received was illegal gratification," he added. 

Kuzhalnaden also pointed out that her IT firm, according to their audit reports, points out receiving foreign currency but that's missing in the I-T returns of the firm, which is a very serious matter too.