KOCHI : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday summoned Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) managing director S N Sasidharan Kartha to appear before it for interrogation on April 15 as part of the probe into the pay-off case involving various companies, including IT firm Exalogic Solutions owned by CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena T. The agency has asked Kartha to reach the ED office in Kochi with related documents by 10.30 am. ED decided to question Kartha to know about Rs 95 crore reportedly paid by CMRL to various individuals and entities, including political leaders and trade unions, which was unearthed during an I-T department probe into CMRL’s finances in 2019.
The company paid Rs 1.72 crore to Exalogic under the guise of providing software services. Though ED had summoned officials of CMRL’s finance department to appear for questioning on Thursday, no representative of the company turned up. CMRL officials also did not inform ED regarding the reason for skipping the interrogation session. ED is investigating the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Earlier, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) had collected statements from CMRL officials as part of the investigation into the pay-off incident.