SFIO criticized in monthly payoff case; fails to fulfil verbal assurance, says Delhi High Court 

NEW DELHI: The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has been criticized in the monthly payoff case in which Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter Veena Vijayan is an accused. The criticism came while the Delhi High Court was considering the plea filed by CMRL against SFIO in the case. Judge Subrahmanya Prasad asked the Center why the SFIO did not fulfil the verbal assurance that it would not file a chargesheet in the case. The matter was recorded and the case was sent back to the Chief Justice.

A charge sheet was recently filed against Veena Vijayan. The SFIO's chargesheet says that Veena received money without providing any service. It has been found that Veena's Exalogic company received Rs 2.70 crore. Veena has been charged with offences that can carry a jail term of up to ten years. The Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs has given its nod to the prosecution in the case.

The charge sheet says that Veena received Rs 2.70 crore from CMRL and Empower India. Empower India is a sister company of CMRL. Sasidharan Kartha and his wife are the directors of this company. Apart from Veena, Exalogic, CMRL and Sasidharan Kartha have been named as accused. Section 447 of the Companies Act has been imposed. This section carries a punishment of six months to ten years. The investigation into the monthly payoff case began in January last year.