New Delhi: The role of statutory auditors and three transport vendors for allegedly colluding with the managing director of embattled Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL), a Kerala-based listed company, has come under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate, according to people with knowledge of the development.The agency is probing money laundering charges allegedly involving CMRL, its directors and Veena T, daughter of former Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.Also read: ED summons former Kerala CM's daughter again in CMRL money laundering caseThe key allegation is that CMRL made illegal payments of large sums to Exalogic Solutions Pvt Ltd, an IT firm owned by Veena.ED officials perused a report submitted by the Serious Fraud Investigation office (SFIO) to a Kerala court in April 2025. The report, accessed by ET, alleged that CMRL founder and managing director SN Sasidharan Kartha was instrumental in "orchestrating a complex web of financial irregularities and fraudulent practices leveraging his executive authority to control CMRL's affairs".Under Kartha's supervision, CMRL implemented a cash management process that involved substantial withdrawals from company bank accounts authorised by cheques he signed, the report said.SFIO alleged that the MD was responsible for "misrepresenting cash expenses by manipulating entries to falsely classify them as legitimate costs, including sludge handling charges (SHC) and transportation expenses totalling ₹182 crore collaborating with senior finance personnel; and in collusion with statutory auditors, Kartha oversaw the systematic falsification of these entries to conceal fraudulent cash flows".It also alleged that CMRL engaged three transport vendors for "over-invoicing, allowing them to obtain inflated amounts in cash". The report said that "cross-verification of entries in the loose sheets with bank statements from these vendors and cash withdrawals from CMRL's Bank of Baroda accounts showed a 100% match, conclusively proving that CMRL received these cash payments". It added that this scheme involved a total amount of ₹43.05 crore between 2009-10 and 2018-19.SFIO report further said that CMRL's revenue primarily comes from synthetic rutile comprising about 91% of its income, with ferric chloride contributing roughly 8% primarily through exports to West Asia.Under the guise of paying commissions to facilitate ferric chloride exports, CMRL transferred a total of ₹13.32 crore, with the true beneficiary being Anil Ananda Panicker, Kartha's son-in-law. Panicker also served as a director of CMRL, the report claimed.Also read: ED to intensify PMLA probe against CMRL, to summon Veena VijayanVeena was questioned by ED last week in connection with the case at its Kochi office. The agency also interrogated the son and wife of CMRL founder Sasidharan Kartha in connection with the case. Prior to that, the agency had questioned Kartha's daughter in the matter last Monday.According to the ED, another company, Empower India Capital Investments Private Limited (EICPL), operated by CMRL's Kartha, had allegedly extended loans of ₹50 lakh to EICPL despite the company allegedly failing to make timely repayments.CMRL came under the scanner of central agencies following an Income-Tax Department raid in January 2019, which allegedly detected financial irregularities including certain expenses, amounting to about ₹130 crore, suspected to be fictitious.