No undue haste or political vendetta in CMRL case, says Keralam CM Satheesan

Keralam Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan said the State government did not show any undue haste or political vendetta in the CMRL-Exalogic pay-off case after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) shared certain information under Section 66 (2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Addressing a press conference here on Friday after the State Cabinet meeting, he said the government would follow the Kerala High Court’s directives to register an FIR against Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter, T. Veena, and son-in-law P.A. Mohamed Riyas in the case.

“Instead of showing undue haste, we sought legal opinion and conducted a preliminary inquiry before registering the FIR. Now the court has said that cognisable offence has been committed in this case,” he said.

Regarding the State government ordering a preliminary inquiry by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in a 20-year-old corruption allegation, he said the order was issued based on a complaint in which Mr. Kumar had been named. He had served as the State’s PWD Secretary. The inquiry was over the suspected death by suicide of Lee See Been, Chief Engineer of an Indo-Malaysian construction company contracted to upgrade MC Road, in Kuala Lumpur in November 2006.

“Only after the investigation, we will be able to find out who are the culprits. Investigation is not a punishment,” said Mr. Satheesan.