KOCHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday submitted at the Special Court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases that the suspended IAS officer M Sivasankar and his team at the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) were fully aware of the smuggling of gold and other electronic goods through the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram. The court extended the custody of Sivasankar for one more day and directed the ED to produce him on Thursday at 12 pm.
In the affidavit, the ED mentioned the information it received after the interrogation of accused Swapna Suresh at a jail in Thiruvananthapuram.
"Sivasankar and his team in the CMO were fully aware of the gold smuggling and other electronic items done through the diplomatic channel. Sivasankar was also aware of the kickbacks given by Unitac Builders to Swapna and her close associates including Khalid, Chief Finance Officer, UAE Consulate in lieu of facilitating the award of a contract from Red Crescent under the LIFE Mission Project. Out of this, an amount of Rs 1 crore (approximately) was subsequently seized by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from the lockers belonging to Swapna, which was meant for Sivasankar," stated the report.
The affidavit also stated that Sivasankar has shared crucial information with Swapna relating to the KFON and LIFE Mission projects. "There could be possible kickbacks received from certain private parties in these projects as Sivasankar did make a mention of the same to her in WhatsApp calls. Sivasankar was in touch with Santhosh Eappan of Unitac Builders and wanted him to be part of some contracts under KFON and LIFE Mission Projects.
The ED claims that during the interrogation, Swapna has also disclosed the names of persons who were very close to Sivasankar. One of them was involved in the Taurus Downtown projects as part of the Technopark expansion in Thiruvananthapuram.
However, Sivasankar's counsel B Raman Pillai submitted that Swapna was questioned numerous times by the ED, Customs and NIA and asked how this new information was revealed only now. "She is behind bars for the past several months and completely broken," he submitted.
Sivasankar was produced at the court as his ED custody ended on Wednesday. However, the ED requested the court to extend his custody for one more day as several new pieces of information were received after interrogating Swapna at the jail and Sivasankar has to be confronted with a statement given by her. The court granted permission for one day's custody.
The court also decided to hear the bail petition of Sivasankar on Thursday. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju will appear for the ED to object to the bail via video conferencing from New Delhi. The ED also submitted that evidence collected by it as part of the probe can be produced before the court in a sealed cover.
However, the defence counsel objected to it claiming that it is an unfair practice to file evidence in a sealed cover without providing a copy to the defence side. The court did not ask for the evidence.