KOCHI: The situation seems to be going from bad to worse for M Sivasankar, the former principal secretary of the chief minister, who was arrested late on Tuesday by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the LIFE Mission bribery case.
A statement by Venugopal Iyer, a chartered accountant and close aide of Sivasankar, to the ED establishes his involvement in accepting kickbacks for allocating the contract to Kochi-based Unitac Builders, sources said. The ED had summoned Venugopal for his alleged role in helping gold smuggling-accused Swapna Suresh open a bank locker to deposit the alleged kickbacks. The agency had questioned Sivasankar, who is currently in its custody till February 20, about the locker, but he proved to be evasive. The ED had earlier recovered Rs 1 crore in cash and 2kg of gold from the locker.
Venugopal, who was questioned for nearly nine hours, reportedly told ED the locker was opened with the knowledge of Sivasankar and that he had only followed the directions of the former IAS officer. U V Jose, former CEO of LIFE Mission, was also summoned by ED on Friday. He is likely to be questioned along with Sivasankar. Jose was director of the LIFE Mission project when UAE-based Red Crescent granted the money for the Wadakkanchery project. It was Sivasankar who introduced Santhosh Eappen, MD of Unitac, to Jose.
Another WhatsApp conversation between Sivasankar and Swapna surfaced on Friday, which supposedly further implicates the CM’s office (CMO). In a message shared on September 7, 2019, Sivasankar advises Swapna on procedures to be followed to involve Red Crescent in the LIFE Mission project. Sivasankar also shared the draft of a sample letter to be sent to the CMO. The conversations also point to the involvement of C M Raveendran, the CM’s additional private secretary, in the bribery.
‘More on ED radar’
The Enforcement Directorate is likely to summon Swapna Suresh before Sivasankar’s custody ends on Monday. According to sources, some other persons are also on the agency’s radar.