KOCHI: The Special Court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Kochi, on Friday ordered in-camera proceedings in Life Mission money laundering case involving M Sivasankar, former principal secretary to the chief minister. Sivasankar, who was produced in court after nine days of ED custody, was remanded in judicial custody on Friday.
It was at around 3.30 pm that Sivasankar was produced before the court. When court proceedings started, Sivasankar’s counsel demanded in-camera proceedings and removal of reporters from the courtroom. The special public prosecutor representing ED also backed the request of Sivasankar’s counsel.
Considering the request, Special Court judge K K Balakrishnan ordered that, henceforth, in-camera proceedings will be followed in the case.
Following the court directive all people present in the courtroom other than counsel of ED and Sivasankar were asked to vacate the place. Later the judge ordered officials to close the doors of the courtroom and continued with the remand procedure.
Usually, in-camera proceedings are followed only during the trial of sensitive cases, mostly related to rape and terrorism.
The court remanded Sivasankar in judicial custody and he was shifted to Kakkanad District Jail by 5 pm. Sivasankar has filed a bail petition before the court which will be considered next week.Sivasankar was arrested by ED on February 14 and was questioned in custody for nine days.
The case pertains to money laundering in the Life Mission Wadakkancherry project which was funded by UAE Red Crescent. The allegation is that Sivasankar received ‘commission’ from the contractor of the project. The ED reportedly seized the money from the bank locker of Swapna Suresh, an accused in the Thiruvananthapuram gold smuggling case.