Allegations of corruption had been leveled against Mr Vijayan’s daughter by a Congress MLA.
Thiruvananthapuram:
The Kerala government has clarified that the IT company of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter had paid the requisite Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) for its business dealings with a Kochi-based private mineral company.
The government’s clarification came amid a furious row over financial transactions between the IT firm’s owner by Mr Vijayan’s daughter T Veena and the minerals company.
The Department of State Goods and Services Tax on Saturday informed Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan, who had leveled allegations of corruption against Mr Vijayan’s daughter, that the case he had raised regarding her IT solutions company had been verified.
Mr Kuzhalnadan had filed corruption charges against the transaction between Veena’s firm and the Kochi-based minerals company.
He had sought to know whether Veena had transferred IGST for the over Rs 1 crore she had received from the mineral company.
He had also recently asked for a vigilance inquiry into the corruption allegations against Ms Veena’s IT company.
In a letter, the state tax department informed the Congress lawmaker that during the verification, it was found that the company owned by the chief minister’s daughter had remitted the IGST for the amount received from Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd.
However, the brief letter did not provide any further details, including the amount she had paid in taxes.
Sources here say that the GST Commissioner has already submitted a report to Finance Minister KN Balagopal in this regard.
Recently, a controversy broke out in Kerala over some financial transactions between the Kochi-based private minerals company and the chief minister’s daughter and her IT company.
Evidence also emerged showing that the company was doing business with top leaders of both the ruling CPI(M) and the Congress-led opposition UDF.
The issue came to light after a Malayalam daily reported that Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd paid a total of Rs 1.72 crore to the chief minister’s daughter between 2017 and 2020.
The news report, which cited an interim settlement board ruling, said the Kochi-based company had earlier entered into an agreement with Ms Veena’s IT firm for consultancy and software support services.
Despite the fact that her company did not provide any services, the amount was paid monthly “due to her relationship with a prominent person”, the report said, citing the mineral company authorities’ statement to the Income Tax Department.
Mr Vijayan, however, dismissed the allegations and said the allegations were made to tarnish and discredit his image.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
