THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There is a concern over the central action of transferring the complaint against Exalogic Company, 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 grew suspicions regarding the transaction of money received by this company from a private firm in the state and later handed over the probe to the Registrar of Companies (ROCC). However, with the inclusion of a state public sector organization in the scope of the investigation against two private companies, the Left Front and the government are worried that the investigation will go in a different direction. Moreover, the central government issued an order handing over the investigation to a higher agency immediately after the complainant Shaun George and his father PC George joined the BJP against the Exalogic company.

The probe has been handed over to the SFIO (Serious Fraud Investigation Office), the highest 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 present three-member team of the ROC will end the investigation.

The SFIO will probe the financial transactions between Exalogic and black sand 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 in the team who has investigated many sensational cases that created a stir, including the Aircel Maxis case against Karti Chidambaram, the Popular Finance fraud case and the Vasan eye care case.

Earlier, the ROC had found Exalogic to have received money from a private firm as 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.