BENGALURU: In a major setback to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena T, the Karnataka High Court on Friday dismissed the petition filed by her against the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) probe. Justice M Nagaprasanna heard the petition and reserved the order on February 12.
On January 31, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs passed an order to investigate the non-disclosure of a transaction of Rs 1.76 crore paid by the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) to Exalogic Solutions Private Limited (ESPL) for purported software service rendered by it by the SFIO.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs revealed before the Karnataka High Court that it ordered an investigation by the SFIO since the CMRL engaged in sourcing beach sand minerals along the Kerala coast and made illegal payments to the extent of Rs 135 crore to various political functionaries of Kerala state and certain other entities, including ESPL, owned by Veena. It directly affects the public interest.
The investigation is not only ordered against the ESPL but also against CMRL and Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs had told the court. This disclosure was made by the Additional Solicitor General of India Arvind Kamath on February 12 before Justice M Nagaprasanna during the hearing of the petition filed by ESPL.
Questioning the maintainability of the petition itself, Kamath contended that there is no parallel investigation as the enquiry officers have already handed over the records to the SFIO and no interference of the court is called for in the matter at this stage. The inquiry officers of the Registrar of Companies are not authorised to access the documents with the I-T Department but SFIO is authorised and hence it was preferred to conduct investigation, he argued.
Senior counsel Arvind Datar, representing the petitioner, argued that parallel investigation by SFIO cannot be ordered under Section 212 of the Companies Act, a draconian provision, to investigate the alleged nexus between the petitioner and CMRL when already the Registrar of Companies ordered an inquiry under Section 210 of the Act on January 12, 2024.
Datar expressed the apprehension that there are chances of arresting the petitioner and attaching properties by invoking the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act if the SFIO which is meant to investigate large-scale scams is allowed to continue with the investigation into the transaction of Rs 1.76 crore though it is not involved any larger public interest. The SFIO investigation was ordered citing the interim status report dated January 30 received from the inquiry officers on January 28, which was disclosed only now in the reply filed by the union government to the petition, he argued.
After hearing the parties, the order was reserved.
