Setback for ex-CM Pinarayi Vijayan, others as Kerala HC denies plea to challenge order in CMRL case

The Kerala high court on Thursday refused to allow CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter Veena and son-in-law PA Mohammed Riyas to challenge a single-judge order directing the registration of FIRs against them in the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) payoffs case.

The division bench of Justices K Natarajan and Johnson John, which had reserved its verdict on Tuesday, had pondered the question of whether Vijayan and others could be granted permission to challenge the verdict in a case in which they were not parties.

A detailed court order is awaited.

The bench of Justice A Badharudeen on October 9 had allowed a petition filed by lawyer-activist KM Shajahan seeking directions to the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) to book Vijayan and others under the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly receiving bribes from CMRL and helping to route money abroad through hawala channels. Vijayan and others were not made parties to the writ petition filed by Shajahan.

The counsel for Vijayan and others had asked the division bench during the hearing how a person unconnected to the case could move the court for registration of the case.

They also argued that the single-judge bench had passed the order without hearing them at all, violating the principles of natural justice.

The Vigilance FIRs against Vijayan and others were registered this week on the basis of a report submitted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) with ‘evidence’ that it claims shows ₹3.28 crore being paid by CMRL to Exalogic Solutions, the firm run by Veena, as a form of bribe to her father and then chief minister Vijayan.

Vijayan and Riyas have termed the ED’s allegations baseless and politically motivated.