High-profile probe against Exalogic and KSIDC, SFIO to take over; concern over central move

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Concern over the central action of transferring the complaint against Exalogic Company, which was being investigated by income tax and revenue agencies, to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office, a central agency that investigates large-scale financial fraud cases and included KSIDC, a public sector body in Kerala, under its ambit. Exalogic is owned by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter Veena. The Income Tax Department raised suspicions over the transaction of money received by this company from a private firm in the state and later referred it to the ROC for investigation. However, with the inclusion of a state public sector organization in the scope of investigation against two private companies so far, the Left Front and the government are worried that the investigation will go in a different direction. Moreover, the central government issued the order handing over the investigation to a higher agency soon after Shaun George, the complainant against the Exalogic company, and his father PC George joined the BJP.

The probe has been handed over to the SFIO (Serious Fraud Investigation Office), the apex investigative body under the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs. It is an investigative agency with powers including arrest. With the arrival of the new team, the investigation conducted by the current ROC's three-member team will end.

The SFIO will investigate financial transactions between Exalogic and blacksand company CMRL. A six-member team comprising top officials of the corporate ministry is tasked with the probe. Additional Director Prasad Adalli, Deputy Director M Arun Prasad, K Prabhu, A Gokulnath, KMS Narayanan and Varun BS are in the team.

Arun Prasad is the head of the investigation team. Arun Prasad is an officer who has investigated many cases that created a stir, including the Aircel Maxis case against Karti Chidambaram, the Popular Finance fraud case and the Vasan eye care case.

ROC had earlier found that Exalogic taking money from the private firm was illegal. ISTIC and KSIDC under the state industries department are also under investigation. The SFIO has been directed to complete the investigation within eight months. The investigation team also includes officials from the current ROC investigation team.