KOCHI: M Sivasankar, former principal secretary to the Chief Minister, “siphoned off huge amount of money” collected for building homes for hapless flood victims as “upfront commission” for allocation of contract for the Wadakkanchery LIFE Mission project, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Wednesday.
The agency made the revelations in its remand report filed before the Special Court for PMLA, which later remanded Sivasankar to ED custody for five days, until 2.30 pm on February 20. The report said Sivasankar, the fifth accused in the case, is guilty of the offence of money laundering by concealing the proceeds of crime, possession, and acquisition of the money under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). It also submitted the money trail from the Red Crescent UAE to Kochi-based builder Unitac Builders and Developers, which was awarded the Wadakkanchery Life Mission project.
As per this, a sum of Rs 5.25 crore to the Federal Bank and a sum of Rs 2.25 crore to the Axis Bank were transferred on August 1, 2019. A part of the same amount was subsequently withdrawn by Santhosh Eappen, MD of Unitac Builders, and handed over as an upfront commission for allocating the contract to him.
The agency said that the analysis of material evidence gathered in the case, including digital ones such as WhatsApp conversations, the IMEI number of a mobile phone in his possession, and the statements collected, had established that Sivasankar had committed the offence. The remand report revealed the WhatsApp chats between Sivasankar and Swapna Suresh, former secretary to Consul General, UAE Consulate, Thiruvananthapuram.
Sivasankar non-cooperative: ED
During the initial interrogation, Sivasankar had stated that the government had no role in allocation of the contract to Unitac Builders, the agency said. When confronted with material evidences such as WhatsApp conversations between him and Swapna, regarding the allocation of the contract, Sivasankar was “evasive in answering and non-cooperative in approach,” the ED said.
The agency said it also confronted Sivasankar in the locker opened by Swapna to handle the funds obtained from the proceeds of the crime. “It is clear Sivasankar had his interest in the upfront commission earned from Unitac Builders by Santhosh Eappen.
It is also clear that Eappen had paid for the luxury iPhone in Sivasankar's possession,” the ED report said, adding that despite giving ample opportunities to reveal and cooperate with the probe to unravel the complete modus of laundering the proceeds of crime, the former principal secretary has willfully adopted non-cooperation by either evading the query or giving misleading and evasive replies.
The Wadakkancherry LIFE Mission case pertains to the alleged diversion of funds provided by UAE Red Crescent for construction of apartments in the wake of the 2018 Kerala floods. The UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram and Kerala LIFE Mission entered into an agreement to construct a housing complex using the Red Crescent’s funds at Wadakkancherry in 2019.
It was alleged that Sivasankar and the UAE Consul General received kickbacks from Unitac Builders for awarding the contract. It was also alleged that a commission of `4.5 crore was given to middlemen including state representatives and government officials out of the funds received from UAE Red Crescent meant for flood victims.
‘Build’ing up the case