HC orders to register FIR against Pinarayi Vijayan and Riyas in CMRL payoff case

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court has directed that a case be registered against former chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and former public works minister Mohammed Riyas in the CM​​R​​L–Exalogic financial transactions. The single bench directed that an FIR be registered and an investigation initiated.

The verdict supports the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) stand that proceedings under the Prevention of Corruption Act cannot be initiated without registering an FIR. The plea was filed by public activist K M Shajahan.

The court also clarified that the vigilance’ stand that an FIR should be registered only after conducting a preliminary investigation, cannot be accepted. The ED had informed the court that sufficient evidence, witness statements and diary entries were available in the case. During the hearing, the agency had argued that an FIR could be registered directly on the basis of the diary entries.

However, the state government argued that there was no need to register an FIR, citing Supreme Court judgments and other legal precedents. Following the high court’s verdict, the vigilance will have to register an FIR against Pinarayi Vijayan and Mohammed Riyas while proceeding with its preliminary inquiry. John Brittas MP said that the verdict will be faced both legally and politically. CPM state secretariat member M V Jayarajan also reacted to the issue.

‘Normally, when such a plea comes up, hearing the concerned parties is part of natural justice. Here, that was not heard. Will share more details after reviewing the specifics of the verdict and consulting with legal experts. In reality, it has now come to light that the ED fabricated fake documents and false statements in the Exalogic case. The statements from the CMRL company's MD, Chief General Manager, and Chief Financial Officer were taken by threatening them.

These three have informed the ED director about this through affidavits. Riyas' friend, Waris, signed the statement only after being threatened that his daughter would be made an accused in the hawala case. Waris has informed the ED regional director about this via an affidavit. All of this needs to be brought before the court,’ said M V Jayarajan.