BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court observed that it cannot put shackles on the hands of the central government for assigning the investigation against Exalogic Solutions Private Limited (ESPL), to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) which was necessitated since the interim report of the Registrar of Companies found serendipity and came across information that would prima facie touch upon skulduggery.
Justice M Nagaprasanna made this observation in the order web hosted on Saturday on the verdict pronounced on Friday, dismissing the petition filed by Veena T, the daughter of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, questioning the order dated January 31 issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to entrust the investigation to the SFIO to probe the non-disclosure of a transaction of Rs 1.76 crore paid by the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) to ESPL for purported software service rendered by it.
The court stated that the interim report of the Registrar of Companies necessitated the assignment of investigation to SFIO, considering the submission made by the Additional Solicitor General of India that Rs 135 crore was given away by the CMRL to political entities without any accounting, including to the ESPL, and the transactions were found when the I-T Interim Settlement Board documents of were noticed.