Gold smuggling case: ED questioning Sivasankar leaves trails to CM’s office

Thiruvananthapuram: Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) questioning of M Sivasankar, former principal secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, is leading to the chief minister’s office.

Next is C M Raveendran, close confidant of Vijayan

The agency’s next move is to question C M Raveendran, additional private secretary and close confidant of Vijayan. This follows statements given to the agency by U V Jose, former CEO of the Life Mission project, under which the controversial flats were being built and commissions paid to secure the construction contract.

The ED had also questioned the chartered accountant of Sivasankar, who helped open a locker jointly with gold smuggling prime accused Swapna Suresh. The investigators had recovered ₹1 crore from the locker, which according to Swapna Suresh, was Sivasankar’s commission.

Sivasankar has been refusing to answer questions on the locker. But he was confronted with statements given by both the chartered accountant as well as the former Life Mission CEO.

Whatsapp chats

Sivasankar’s Whatsapp chats with Swapna have revealed the involvement of the chief minister’s office in awarding of the contract and specifically refers to Raveendran.

Both the chartered accountant and Jose as also Santosh Eapen, the MD of Unitac, which won the construction contract, have confirmed that a commission of ₹4.5 crore was paid to middlemen, including state representatives and government officials, out of the funds received from Red Crescent, the UAE-based charitable organisation, which funded the construction of flats meant for homeless in Thrissur’s Vadkkancherry town.

The project envisaged the construction of 140 flats at a cost of ₹14.50 crore out of ₹18.50 crore provided by Red Crescent via the UAE consulate.