Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter T Veena is at the centre of controversy after reports claimed her company Exalogic Solutions Private Limited received an illegal payment of Rs 1.72 crore from Kochi-based Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL).
However, a document issued by the ministry of company affairs confirmed that Veena's firm was declared dormant eight months ago.
While refuting the charges against the CM's daughter CPaM state secretary M V Govindan had claimed the company had ceased operation already.
As per the documents issued by the registrar of the companies, Exalogic Solutions was declared dormant on November 30, 2022. The status was awarded based on a request submitted by T Veena on November 3, 2022. Dormant status indicates that the company can resume operation anytime as it is not temporarily closed.
According to the financial report in March 2022, the firm only generated a profit of Rs 82,257. In the previous year, the profit was recorded as Rs 5,72,000. Exalogic Solutions signed a contract with CMRL owned by Sasidharan Kartha in 2016 and 2017. During this period, the company earned a profit of Rs 40 lakh and Rs 30 lakh, revealed the documents.
The controversy
Veena and her firm, Exalogic Solutions, had entered into an agreement with the CMRL to provide IT, marketing consultancy, and software services to the latter. It is alleged that CMRL paid Rs 1.72 crore to the firm without receiving any services. Malayala Manorama reported that CMRL managing director S N Sasidharan Kartha told the Income Tax Department that the money was paid in monthly instalments as per the contract.
"The Income Tax Department argued that Rs 1.72 crore was received by Veena and Exalogic during 2017–20, which is an "illegal transaction". A settlement board bench of Justices Amrapali Das, Rameshwar Singh, and M Jagadish Babu said the Income Tax Department has been able to establish on the basis of strong evidence that the money was paid for services not rendered," Malayala Manorama reported.
