THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala government has ordered a vigilance probe into the allegations pertaining to the irregularities in the LIFE( Livelihood, Inclusion and Financial Empowerment) Mission project at Wadakkanchery in Thrissur district. The order was issued by Home secretary TK Jose to the Vigilance director late Tuesday.
As per the order, the allegations regarding the bribery related to the project and the deal with the Red Crescent authority will also be investigated. The government issued the order following a month-long controversy and allegations by the Opposition parties in which many political leaders and officers accepted bribes for the implementation of the project.
Meanwhile, Wadakkanchery MLA Anil Akkara said that the vigilance probe could not be accepted. The vigilance probe was announced at a time when the CBI was coming up with an investigation.
The final agreement for the project of the state government to construct the housing scheme with the hospital at Wadakkanchery in Thrissur district was signed between UAE Consulate and Unitac Builders. As per the norms in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the contract should be signed between Red crescent authority based in UAE and Unitac builders.
The controversial agreement was signed on July 31, 2019, between UAE Consul General and Unitac builders managing partner Santosh Eapen. The agreement was to construct a housing complex and hospital on the government land.
On July 11, 2019, UV Jose, LIFE Mission Chief Executive Officer under state government signed the MoU with Red crescent authority which is selected as the consultancy for the implementation of the project. However, the final agreement did not specify who the project consultant would be.
The deal between the UAE Red Crescent Authority and the state government stated that the MoU would form a framework so that the Red crescent would provide 1 crore UAE dirham to the state for constructing housing complexes and hospitals.
However, the UAE Consulate was involved in the two agreements with the builder directly. One is a contract worth Rs 14.24 crore ( 70 lakh UAE dirham) with Unitac builders for the housing complex and other is the contract for a women and children hospital adjacent to the plot for Rs 6.10 crore ( 30 lakh UAE dirham) Unitac' sister company Sane ventures in Ernakulam.
The controversy on the deal was triggered after allegations that a large sum of money was handed over as commission to the facilitators of the project.This comes following the revelation of a key accused of gold smuggling case , Swapna Suresh to National Investigation Agency that she allegedly received Rs 1 crore as commission from the builder.