ED to intensify PMLA probe against CMRL, to summon Veena Vijayan

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will intensify its money laundering probe against Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL). The federal agency will shortly summon Veena Vijayan, daughter of former Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, people in the know told ET.

Besides Veena, the agency will also summon directors of CMRL to quiz them about the "money trail". The federal agency is specifically focusing on the cash transfers allegedly made from the company's accounts. ED will quiz Veena and CMRL directors to ascertain the "beneficiaries". A senior official privy to the development told ET on the condition of anonymity that "cash transfers made to individuals and entities are the immediate focus. For that will uncover the identity of the beneficiaries".

Also, the agency is zeroing in on the properties which it will soon attach under relevant provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to recover the alleged proceeds of crime. Another senior official said that the total amount of the financial irregularities involved in the case is of around Rs 184 crore.


CMRL, a public limited company based in Kerala and engaged in the manufacture of synthetic rutile and other industrial chemicals, has been under the ED scanner following allegations of bribery and money laundering. The key allegation is that CMRL made illegal payments of large sums to Exalogic Solutions Pvt. Ltd., an IT firm owned by Veena Thaikkandiyil.

On Friday, a division bench of the Kerala High Court dismissed an appeal filed by the CMRL and four of its officials seeking quashing of ED's ECIR against them. Upholding a single judge's order dated May 26, which had refused to quash the ECIR, the division bench held on Friday that "since the ECIR is not a statutory document and even the non-registration of an ECIR does not impede the commencement of civil action, the prayer to quash the ECIR cannot be granted in this case".