Kochi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday intensified its investigation into the alleged money laundering at Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) by questioning Shiby S Kartha, daughter of CMRL managing director SN Sasidharan Kartha, at its Kochi Zonal Office on Monday.
Shiby Kartha, one of the directors of South Kalamassery-based Nipuna International Private Limited, a corporate entity owned by the Kartha family, appeared before ED officials at around 10.30 am and was questioned by the central agency. ED investigation is reportedly focusing on the financial dealings between Nipuna International and CMRL, which are under scrutiny as part of a wider Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) probe.
The money laundering probe also includes the pay-off case involving opposition leader Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena T and her now-defunct company Exalogic Solutions Pvt Ltd.
It is learnt that Shiby was questioned based on the findings contained in the report filed by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) before the Additional Sessions Court, Ernakulam. According to the SFIO, Nipuna International, listed as eighth accused in the case, was allegedly used as a vehicle to channel funds from publicly listed CMRL into businesses controlled by members of the Kartha family while avoiding corporate regulatory scrutiny.
The SFIO noted in the report that direct transactions between CMRL and Nipuna International would have required disclosure under corporate governance norms because the company was owned and controlled by members of the managing director’s family. It would have required “related party disclosures in the financial statements and approval from the board of directors, excluding the interested directors from the Kartha family from voting,” the SFIO report stated.
So, in order to avoid such disclosures, SFIO claimed that CMRL routed payments through a third-party company named Vahini Transport and Traders, a transport firm owned by K Aji. However, according to the investigation, CMRL MD Sasidharan Kartha directed Aji to establish Vahini Transport in 2002-03 specifically to handle the company’s transport and logistics operations.
According to the investigation, CMRL paid Vahini Transport ₹91.22 crore between 2009 and 2024 towards transport and transit-related expenses. The SFIO, which presented a year-wise split-up of Vahini’s revenue, noted that virtually all of its business revenue during this period came from CMRL.
SFIO alleged that Vahini Transport then subcontracted transport-related work to Nipuna International by leasing tippers, multi-axle tankers and heavy excavation machinery from the company. During questioning by the SFIO, Vahini proprietor Aji reportedly stated that after receiving payments from CMRL, he retained a commission and transferred the remaining amounts to Nipuna International.
A forensic examination of bank records allegedly found that ₹14.19 crore was transferred by Vahini from CMRL’s transport expenditure stream into Nipuna International’s accounts between the financial years 2012 and 2024. The SFIO has concluded that the arrangement was designed to facilitate over-invoicing and channel company funds into businesses controlled by the promoter family.
The probe is also examining Nipuna International alongside the now-defunct Bengaluru-based Exalogic Solutions Pvt. Ltd., owned by Veena T. The SFIO has treated both firms as part of the same alleged network through which company funds were diverted.
The SFIO noted that several key individuals held positions in both CMRL and Nipuna International. These include Saran Kartha Sasidharan, Joint Managing Director of CMRL, and Sasidharan’s son, who holds a 40% stake in Nipuna International and served as an authorised bank signatory. Another director and Sasidharan’s son-in-law, Anil Ananda Panicker, is a whole-time director of CMRL and owns a 20% stake in Nipuna. Shiby Kartha, Sasidharan’s daughter, also holds a 20 per cent stake and serves on the company’s board.
The SFIO has further alleged that the transactions escaped detection for more than a decade because the same auditing network handled both companies. Chartered Accountant Saghesh Kumar KA, named as the fifth accused in the case, served as CMRL’s internal auditor while also acting as the statutory auditor of Nipuna International from 2012-13 to 2022-23. Investigators claim he issued clean audit reports during this period.
As a director of Nipuna International, Shiby Kartha is among those being examined over the approval of company accounts, financial statements and banking transactions that investigators allege contained false or misleading disclosures. The SFIO has invoked provisions of Sections 447 and 448 of the Companies Act, which deal with fraud and false statements.
Armed with documents gathered by the SFIO and material seized during searches, the ED is now tracing the movement of funds that allegedly flowed through Nipuna International and examining whether they formed part of a larger money-laundering operation.
With summons already issued to Joint Managing Director Saran S Kartha and Veena T, the agency is continuing its probe into what it describes as the generation and laundering of alleged “proceeds of crime” arising from the CMRL transactions.
