Thomas Isaac, Shone George trade barbs over UAE 'deals' of Kerala CM's daughter

Thiruvananthapuram: A day after an allegation surfaced that Exalogic, the IT farm of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena Vijayan, has a bank account in the Middle East, a war of words broke out on Thursday between former state Finance Minister Thomas Isaac and BJP leader Shone George.

Incidentally, it was George who on Wednesday claimed that Veena Vijayan is the signatory of a joint account in the Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank which received huge sums of money from SNC Lavalin and consulting major PwC.

Isaac, the CPI-M candidate from the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency, on Thursday slammed George and the media for coming out with a piece of 'wrong' news.

Taking to social media, Isaac said, “If the media had just googled, they would have found that the Dubai-based company’s name is Exalogic Consulting while Veena’s firm’s name is Exalogic Solutions."

Reacting to the remark, George took to his social media page and said that it’s surprising to see a person like Isaac trying to divert the major issue of Veena’s wrongdoings by raising trivial matters.

“I wish to get just two answers from Isaac -- 1) Can he tell me that Exalogic does not have a bank account with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank where Veena and T. Suneesh are the two signatories; 2) Is he aware that Veena has business interests and bank accounts across the world?

"If you are not scared to answer, please do, and if not, I will give more information for you to reply. If not, a case can be filed against me,” George said.

In a related development, the Kerala High Court has disposed of a petition by George seeking a probe into the alleged bank account details.

The court pointed out that since the SFIO and other agencies are already probing the matter, George can return with his plea, if needed, after the investigation is over.

Last year, George had approached the ED and other agencies like the SFIO and the Income Tax Department alleging that Veena Vijayan’s IT firm received Rs 1.72 crore from CMRL, a mining company in which the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) has around 13 per cent stake.

Based on his complaint, the central agencies launched a probe after recording the statements of various persons, except Veena.