Kerala High Court Dismisses CMRL Appeal Against ED Probe In Money Laundering Case Involving Ex-CM's Daughter
Sandhra Suresh
5 Jun 2026 10:47 AM IST
The Kerala High Court on Friday dismissed an appeal filed by Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) challenging an Enforcement Directorate summons issued in a money laundering probe linked to payments allegedly made to Exalogic Solutions Pvt Ltd, a company owned by Veena Vijayan, daughter of former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
A division bench of Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and K.V. Jayakumar upheld the ED's action and declined to quash the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR).
The court observed: " We hold that the non-registration of an FIR or non-filing of a complaint in respect of a scheduled offence will not bar the ED from initiating civil action under the PMLA. The registration of a scheduled offence is a pre-requisite only for penal prosecution under Section 3 and not for civil action of attachment under Section 5 or the exercise of inquiry power under Section 15 of the PMLA
As regard, the prayer to to quash the ECIR, we hold that since the ECIR is not a statutory document and even the non-registration of an ECIR does not impede the commencement of civil action, the prayer to quash ECIR cannot be granted in this case."
During the hearing, Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra, counsel for the appellants had argued that the condition precedent for the invocation of jurisdiction under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act is the existence of "proceeds of crime" arising from a scheduled offence. It was also contended that certain findings rendered by the single judge were not in conformity with the law governing the initiation of proceedings under the PMLA.
The ED, opposing the appeal, had argued that neither a final report under Section 173 of the CrPC nor a complaint is a prerequisite for commencing an inquiry, investigation, or proceedings under the PMLA. According to the agency, once a competent authority under the relevant statute is conducting an inquiry or investigation into a scheduled offence, the Enforcement Directorate is empowered to initiate proceedings under the PMLA.
The appeal was initially filed before the Kerala High Court against a Single Judge's refusal to quash the Enforcement Directorate's money laundering probe linked to alleged payments of ₹1.72 crore made by CMRL to Exalogic Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
CMRL had challenged the Enforcement Case Information Report registered under the PMLA and the summons issued by the agency, contending that the ED could not initiate proceedings in the absence of a valid predicate offence.
Rejecting the challenge, the Single Judge had held that the challenge was premature as the ED had only issued summonses seeking the appearance of company officials and production of documents and that no cause of action had arisen at that stage. Aggrieved by the decision, CMRL preferred the present writ appeal before the Division Bench.