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Kerala smuggling case returns to haunt govt
IAS officer Sivasankar may face action after main accused Suresh says the officer was aware of her activities
Indian Administrative Service officer M Sivasankar will face disciplinary action, a Kerala government official said on Sunday, after the main accused in gold smuggling case said he was aware of her activities at a time when Sivasankar was principal secretary to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Swapna Suresh, the main accused in the smuggling case, had on Saturday said in interviews that Sivasankar was “aware of her activities and helped her in many ways including getting out of the state after the seizure”. She was reacting to the bureaucrat’s assertions in his autobiography — Aswathamavu: Verum Oru Aana (Aswarthamavu is only an elephant) — that he was unaware of any wrongdoing.
The Enforcement Directorate will move court to cancel Sivasankar’s bail after ascertaining the details, said an official of the agency in Kochi that investigates financial crimes. He declined to be named.
Sivasankar was arrested on Nov 24 2020 by customs for helping the accused and later the ED also took his custody. He was granted bail by the CJM court dealing with economic offences in Kochi on Feb 3, 2021.
Sivasankar had failed to take permission before publishing his autobiography, officials said, which is a punishable offence for government officers. He has unnecessarily raked up the issue, giving an opportunity to central agencies to embarrass the state government, they said on condition of anonymity.
“We have definite information that he was aware of the smuggling through consulate. More than 165 kg gold smuggled through this channel. Instead of co-operating with us he turned the government against us,” said a senior official of the ED.
Most of Suresh’s revelations on Saturday were part of her written statement given to customs and ED officials earlier, said officials of the agencies.
In her interview, Suresh alleged that she came in contact with Sivasankar in 2017 and over the period “he was part of her life and all her activities”. She said that her two audio clips from jail in which she said she was forced to name the chief minister by central agencies were also done at the behest of Sivasankar.
In her latest revelations, she said central agencies never forced her to take Vijayan’s name, and it was a lie stage-managed by Sivasankar.
“He knew everything that happened, and now he’s putting the whole blame on me. I will not allow this. Sivasankar used me, exploited, and now he has betrayed me also,” she said in the interviews.
She also alleged that after the seizure of gold from the United Arab Emirates consulate in July 2020, she was forced to leave the state and, on her way to Bengaluru hideout, had talked to Sivasankar twice over the phone.
The gold smuggling case came to light on July 5, 2020, when the customs department seized 30kg gold hidden in bathroom fittings in one of the consignments, camouflaged as diplomatic baggage. A former employee of the consulate, P Sarith, who came to receive the consignment, was arrested the same day.
After a week, the National Investigation Agency arrested Suresh and her accomplice Sandeep Nair from their hideout in Bengaluru.
She claimed in the interviews that besides getting her a job in Space Park (It is a government-owned body to attract start-ups working in the space sector), Sivasankar helped her former husband Jayashankar to get a job in K-Fon, a government-owned company, and he was asked to quit after the case came up.
She also admitted that ₹2 crore cash and two kg gold seized by the ED from her locker was part of the commission she got for clinching the Life Mission, a project to build free dwelling units for the homeless with the help of Middle East based charity organisation Red Crescent. She also alleged that Sivasankar advised her to keep the money in a locker and asked her to open a joint account with his chartered accountant.
After her disclosure, the opposition Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party hit out at the government, saying their graft charges in Life Mission and other projects have been proven right.
“Money seized from the locker was a bribe received in connection with the Life Mission project. It is also clear that the CM’s office was aware of gold smuggling through the UAE consulate. The CM has no right to take a moral high ground now,” said opposition leader V D Satheesan of the Congress party.
The BJP has asked the government to expel Sivasankar from service immediately.
“His role in the gold smuggling racket is clear now. Besides this, he also helped the accused to flee from the state. Corruption in Life Mission project is also established and he has no right to continue in service,” said party state president K Surendran.
The state government is yet to react to the latest controversy. Vijayan arrived in the state on Saturday night after his week-long tour in the United Arab Emirates. Sivasankar has declined talking about the case.
The issue dented the image of the government, political observer A Jayashankar said. “It is a big irony that the senior IAS officer has pushed the government to the firing range again,” he said.
