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CMRL-Exalogic case: Reports say Veena's diary has 'hawala' details, Riyas trashes claims

Digital Desk | Kozhikode, Sep 15 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorates latest revelations in the CMRL-Exalogic case, that surfaced in the media on Tuesday, showing some purported documents allegedly containing pages of a diary linked to Veena Vijayan, rattled the CPI(M), which is holding a three-day convention in Kerala. The EDs 25-page communication to the State Police Chief, details of which were out in the media, on the concluding day of the three-day CPI(M) meeting, alleges that documents seized from the rented residence of former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayans daughter T. Veena contain evidence of money laundering and that hawala channels were used to transfer money abroad. The reports mentioned that the agency has also alleged that the former Minister and Veenas husband, P.A. Mohammed Riyas, had a role in the transactions. A 16-member WhatsApp group, comprising Riyass staff, friends and associates, was used in connection with hawala transactions. One number in the group was reportedly saved as Minister Riyas. The reports said that the agency has also purportedly identified a Koduvally native in the group whom it suspects of involvement in hawala operations. It is alleged that Veena and Riyas travelled together to Dubai, including in May 2024, as part of efforts to move money and establish a benami garment business in Veenas name. Notes allegedly written by Veena, seized during a May 27 raid at the residence in Thiruvananthapuram where she had stayed with Pinarayi Vijayan, have also been cited in the reports. The ED claims Veena acknowledged that she had written the notes, according to the reports. The disclosures could hardly have come at a more politically sensitive moment for the CPI(M). The extended state committee meeting was convened primarily to examine the Lefts crushing poll defeat and its drastic loss of political ground. The timing of the purported ED revelations has therefore added another layer of embarrassment to a party already under pressure to explain the electoral debacle. The mood was palpable on Tuesday morning when CPI(M) General Secretary M.A. Baby and state Secretary M.V. Govindan emerged to proceed to the meeting venue. Both leaders maintained stoic silence when confronted with questions on the fresh allegations and walked away without responding. Riyas, however, launched an unusually sharp counterattack, dismissing the reports as a deliberately scripted campaign to tarnish his and his familys image. If this is important evidence, would it be released in this manner? he asked, rejecting as completely false propaganda the claim that Veena had admitted that the money involved was black money. Riyas said Veena had been questioned three times and that the ED had not asked her a single question about hawala transactions. He questioned the timing of the disclosures, pointing out that they emerged on the very day the CPI(M)s extended state committee meeting concluded. Describing the allegations as a precisely written script, Riyas said those behind it deserved the National Award for Best Screenplay. He maintained that he would fight the allegations legally and was not afraid. The EDs allegations and Riyass counterattack have now ensured that an issue the CPI(M) leadership may have hoped to keep outside the partys poll-debacle deliberations has become an unavoidable political talking point. More importantly, Riyas is a member of the power state secretariat committee, the crucial body of the state party unit.