Thiruvananthapuram:
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) probing the alleged kickbacks in Life Mission housing project on Wednesday sent another summons to the Kerala chief minister’s additional private secretary C M Raveendran after he failed to appear before it on February 27, people close to the federal agency said.
He has been asked to appear before the ED’s regional office in Kochi on March 7, said the people quoted above adding the agency will move the special court in Kochi if he ignored second summons. In 2020 he had appeared before the ED after three rounds of summons.
On February 26 Raveendran sent a mail to the ED saying since he was busy with the ongoing assembly session he could not appear before it. He was summoned by the central agency after the arrest of CM’s former principal secretary M Sivasankar 10 days back. During Pinarayi Vijayan’s first term (2016-2021) these two played a key role in administration and during the second stint the CM retained his additional PS Raveendran despite many complaints against him.
Meanwhile, a day after the CM denied any meeting with the main accused in gold smuggling case in his official residence, fresh Whatsapp chats have surfaced on Wednesday contrary to his claims. The HT could not independently verify authenticity of these chats.
According to these chats that took place in 2018, Sivasankar had reportedly assured Swapna Suresh who was about to resign from the UAE consulate in the state capital that she will be given a job in department of non-residents affairs (Norka). It is also mentioned that Raveendran informed Sivasankar, then principal secretary to the CM, that Swapna met the CM. These chats gave enough hints that Swapna allegedly met the CM before her resignation from the consulate and Raveendran was shocked to hear her exit from the consulate. Two days back Raveendran’s alleged chat with Swapna Suresh that contained some “salacious contents” also surfaced.
On Tuesday the state assembly had witnessed uproarious scenes after Congress member Mathew Kuzhalnadan read out contents of the ED remand report of Sivasankar. The CM had denied his charges and content of the remand report and said she never met Swapna Suresh in his official residence. Later Swapna, now staying in Bengaluru, also termed “the CM’s statement a big lie.” “I met him several times. In most of these meetings Sivasankar and other officials were present,” she said.
The opposition BJP has asked the CM to tender an apology and resign for “telling lies in the assembly.” “He has no right to remain in office. Chats show he took keen interest in getting Swapna Suresh a job in government service. He told blatant lies in the house,” said state president K Surendran.
The three-year-old gold smuggling and Life Mission cases gained some speed recently after the ED retrieved data from mobile phones of Sivasankar and Swapna. According to the federal agency after 2018 floods in the state ₹18.50 crore was accepted from an international aid agency Red Crescent by a group of people (government officials, consulate employees and middle men) to build houses for flood- affected people in Vadakancherry in Thrissur district. The contract to build flats was later given to one Unitach Builders and middlemen, officials and some employees of the UAE consulate in the state capital allegedly received ₹4 crore as commission. Besides this, grant was accepted without permission of the union government. Another case was registered against the accused by the CBI for violating the foreign contribution regulation act.
Alleged kickbacks in Life Mission project surfaced when central agencies were probing the gold smuggling case in which 30 kg of smuggled gold was seized from the UAE consulate in the state capital in June 2020. When the lockers of main accused Swapna Suresh were opened in October 2020, agencies found ₹1 crore cash and 2 kg gold. Later she reportedly told them that currency was the commission received for clinching a deal with “Red Crescent”. She alleged that Sivasankar asked her to keep his commission in her locker. However, Sivasankar, who claimed that he was innocent, said he was implicated in the case by gold smugglers. Sivasankar is in jail since his arrest on February 15.