Kerala High Court on Friday ordered the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) under anti-corruption laws against former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and others in connection with the CMRL bribery case. The court was hearing the case of a petition for formal criminal proceedings based on findings of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Exalogic Solutions, a company formerly owned by Vijayan's daughter Veena T.
Justice A. Badharudeen granted a petition by advocate K. M. Shajahan, who argued that the state police should register an FIR instead of doing a preliminary inquiry into the allegations in the ED’s report. The court ordered registration of the FIR, which then led to a serious criminal investigation. At the time of the report, a detailed judgment was still awaited, and more court proceedings were required to determine the scope and implementation of the order.
The direction also focuses on Veena Vijayan and her husband P A Mohammed Riyas, a former Kerala Minister and legislator. The ED had passed on the information in its investigation to the Kerala Police Chief under Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), requesting action under the Prevention of Corruption Act and other applicable laws. The main legal question before the High Court was whether the police could first conduct a preliminary inquiry or were required to register an FIR after receiving information about alleged cognisable offences from the ED.
At the heart of the dispute are alleged payments made by CMRL to Exalogic Solutions. The ED said it got about ₹2.78 crore under the guise of IT consultancy services but there was no evidence of the services being provided. It alleged that this was a part of a wider corruption scheme in which about ₹3.28 crore were linked to Pinarayi Vijayan. These are allegations made by the investigating agency and have not been proven as criminal conduct by a court.
The case has received significant political attention because Vijayan was Chief Minister of Kerala at the time of the alleged transactions. The ED studied the financial transactions of CMRL and Exalogic Solutions and other information that was gathered during searches and investigations. The agency asked the state police to register a separate case because the findings indicated possible offences under anti-corruption laws. The High Court’s order only relates to the procedural process of registering an FIR and does not in itself imply the guilt of the accused persons in question.
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