A purported probe by the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs into the company matters of a mining firm based in Kochi has put the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in the crosshairs of the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) again.
Last year, the Income Tax department had accused the firm of making “inexplicable payments” to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter T. Veena, among others, including politicians across the aisle.
However, the Congress singled out the sizeable retainer fee received by Ms. Veena’s IT consultancy during the 2017-21 period as a classic example of profiting off proximity to power while condoning other dole-outs, including to several Opposition leaders, as legitimate political donations.
The Congress and the BJP seemed fixated on resurrecting the accusations targeting Ms. Veena using the impending Central probe as a political lean-to in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Mr. Vijayan had forcibly denied the accusation in the Assembly last September. Without naming Ms. Veena, Mr. Vijayan said the IT firm had entered into a legitimate contract to provide consultancy service to the mining firm. The income tax tribunal had not heard Ms. Veena’s IT firm, which was not a party to the tax dispute.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan said the latest Central investigation stemmed from an income tax disputes settlement tribunal’s order prohibiting the mining company from claiming input tax credits for the payments made to Ms. Veena’s IT firm.
He alleged the IT consultancy failed to list the services rendered to the mining company convincingly to the tribunal. “The CPI(M) and the government could no more play the victim,” he said.
Congress legislator Mathew Kuzhalnadan told reporters in Kozhikode that the “pay-for-political patronage” plot allegedly implicating Mr. Vijayan’s family ran deep.
For one, Mr. Kuzhalnadan alleged that the State-run Kerala State Industries Development Corporation (KSIDC) had strangely forsaken the 14% shareholder profit the mining firm owed the treasury. Mr. Kuzhalnadan said Industries Minister P. Rajeeve owed the public an explanation. He added that the KSIDC’s partnership with the mining firm was under the Central government’s scanner.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said in Kochi that the Central investigation told a tale of corruption and nepotism. However, the CPI(M) and the BJP were bedfellows, and nothing would come of the sabre-rattling.
LDF convener E.P. Jayarajan called the investigation politically motivated. It was another instance of the BJP subverting central agencies to target political opponents.
