Money trail in Kerala gold smuggling case brings CM’s office under scanner

Money trail in Kerala gold smuggling case brings CM’s office under scanner

Pradeep.Thakur@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:03.11.2020 

The money trail in the Kerala-UAE gold smuggling case has brought Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s office in focus with Enforcement Directorate tracking alleged payoffs of ₹4 crore in the CM’s Life Mission project— a housing scheme for the flood displaced and landless citizens— to his former principal secretary M Sivasankar and associates.

Sivasankar has been arrested and is presently in ED custody. He is being questioned on the alleged bribes received in the project and contract awarded to Kochi-based Unitac builders, according to sources. The anti-money laundering agency is tracking the IAS officer to a ₹60 lakh recovery from SBI’s Thiruvananthapuram branch.

The huge cash is alleged to be part of payoffs deposited in the bank account jointly operated by gold scam main accused Swapna Suresh and Sivasankar’s chartered accountant Venugopal. The questioning of other accused have revealed that Sivasankar had escorted Swapna Suresh to his CA Venugopal’s residence and office twice and operations to launder the “proceeds of crime” are being scrutinised.

“On the day Unitac Builders got a contract for a housing project under the Life Mission, messages were exchanged between Sivasankar and Swapna Suresh over WhatsApp,” sources said. The ED has collected the evidence as part of its probe against the gold smuggling accused and the alleged involvement of the CM’s office in the bribery case.

The probe has now been widened to other flagship schemes of the Kerala government where Sivasankar’s involvement has been found putting the Left Democratic Front government in a spot as the opposition parties in the state have alleged corruption in Life Mission and other key projects.

The agency is also probing involvement of UAE’s Red Crescent in the funding of the project. The probe has also revealed that the CM’s ex-principal secretary had been in touch with three of the four accused in the UAE gold smuggling case.

On July 5, the Customs had seized 30 kg gold from a UAE diplomatic baggage worth ₹15 crore smuggled by misdeclaring the consignment. under investigation.

Pinarayi Vijayan’s office in focus with Enforcement Directorate tracking alleged payoffs of ₹4 crore in the CM’s Life Mission project to his former principal secretary M Sivasankar and associates