ED summons Pinarayi Vijayan in CMRL-Exalogic case as his Supreme Court plea awaits hearing

The summons

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned CPI(M) leader and former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for questioning in the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL)-Exalogic case, Mathrubhumi reported on October 16. That report says he was asked to appear "next week" and does not give the exact date. Some reports describe him as Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala assembly.

The ED alleges that CMRL, a public company, made payments of Rs 2.78 crore to Exalogic Solutions, a now-defunct company linked to Vijayan's daughter, under the guise of IT consultancy services, according to Mathrubhumi. A second Mathrubhumi report gives the figure as monthly sums totalling between Rs 1.72 crore and Rs 2.78 crore, and says the ED alleges no actual IT services were rendered. These are the ED's allegations as reported; the reports read include no response from CMRL or from the Vijayan family beyond their court submissions.

The court orders

On October 9, a Kerala High Court single judge directed the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) to register a case on the basis of a report the ED had sent to the state police, as reported by ThePrint (PTI). Vijayan, his daughter and her husband sought to appeal, arguing they had not been heard.

On Thursday, October 15, a division bench of Justices K Natarajan and Johnson John dismissed their applications for leave to appeal. Another ThePrint report says the bench held that an accused in a corruption case has no legal right to be heard before an FIR is registered, and that no preliminary inquiry was needed where the ED supplied enough material disclosing cognizable offences. It also said the order did not affect the applicants' right to pursue constitutional and statutory remedies against the FIR. The second Mathrubhumi report says the state had first sought a preliminary Crime Branch inquiry.

The Supreme Court plea

On Friday, October 16, Vijayan moved the Supreme Court against the High Court order. Senior counsel Sidharth Luthra sought urgent listing before a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, said an FIR had already been registered, and asked for protection from coercive action. The Chief Justice said the matter would be heard when the court reopens on October 26 after the Dussehra break, and that he might constitute a bench during the holidays if judges are available, ThePrint reported. A Mathrubhumi report on October 19, citing PTI, says two FIRs were registered after the High Court's intervention.

Political reactions

After the High Court ruling, BJP leader Shone George welcomed it and said Vijayan should resign as Leader of the Opposition. Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan also welcomed it. State Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said the order was not a setback for the government, which he said had acted according to law and not out of vendetta. CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan said the party would respond politically and legally after studying the judgment, and called the case a planned move by the ED and the UDF government against Vijayan and the Left.

On Sunday, Congress MLA Chandy Oommen said the law should take its course and that he did not want Vijayan to face the kind of hounding his late father endured, Mathrubhumi reported (PTI). Reports also describe differences within the Congress over the state government's handling of the case.