• Notification Date: 31-10-2023
• Notification No: N/A

GST Dept confirms Veena Vijayan paid taxes; Kuzhalnadan to Apologise

A letter from the Kerala Department of State Goods and Services Taxes confirmed that Veena Vijayan, entrepreneur and daughter of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, has paid the Goods and Services Taxes (GST) for the remuneration she received for services to a Kochi-based company. The letter came in reply to a query by Congress legislator Mathew Kuzhalnadan, who, in a series of allegations against Veena, questioned if she had paid the tax for the 1.72 crore rupees that she and Exalogic, her Bengaluru-based company, received for their services to Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL).  

The figures had come into light after a report of the Interim Settlement Board of the Union Income Tax Department claimed that Veena's company had not provided services to the CMRL, but still received money. Saying this, the Interim Board refused to entertain the tax deduction claims made by the CMRL for the payments made to Exalogic. The revelations had snowballed into a controversy with repeated questions raised on alleged corruption and the silence of Pinarayi Vijayan. It took a month before the CM responded to the allegations. 

After the finance department’s letter came out, verifying Veena’s tax payments, senior leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) AK Balan demanded that Mathew Kuzhalnadan should apologise to her and her family. “If Kuzhalnadan plans to continue in public service, he should apologise. I have the affidavit that the CMRL had given, admitting that they got the services as per the two agreements they signed with Exalogic -- one for IT services and another for software development. Both the Income Tax Department and the IGST (Integrated Goods and Services Tax) have made no complaints about Veena regarding tax payment,” Balan told reporters. 

In his response, Mathew Kuzhalnadan said that he stood by the statements he had made, that the real issue was about the money Veena and Exalogic took for services they had not given, and the GST payment was only a side issue. “Once I get more details from the letter that the finance department has sent, there will be more clarity. After they hear my side, the people can decide if I should apologise,” he said.