THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Close on the heels of the government announcing a vigilance probe into the bribery allegations in the LIFE Mission housing project at Wadakkanchery in Thrissur, a vigilance team conducted an inspection at the Local Self-Government Department on Friday.
As part of the preliminary probe, the team from Kottayam reached the office in the Secretariat and checked all files related to the project. It then took away some major files.
VG Vinod Kumar, SP, Kottayam (Eastern Range), is in charge of the team and they will investigate the allegations of bribery related to the project and the deal with the UAE-based Red Crescent. The Opposition parties had alleged that several political leaders and officers had accepted huge sums as commission for implementing the project.
The state’s housing scheme got mired in controversy after Swapna Suresh, a gold smuggling accused, revealed to the NIA that she had received Rs 1 crore as commission from Unitac, the builder.