Enforcement Directorate to examine all Life Mission documents

Enforcement Directorate to examine all Life Mission documents

Kochi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has decided to examine all documents pertaining to the Life Mission housing project meant for the poor and the landless in Kerala.

The ED is preparing to look into the veracity of the statement of Swapna Suresh, an accused in the gold smuggling case, that intermediaries have taken commissions on all contracts for execution of construction in Life Mission projects signed without the direct supervision of the state government. It will try to find out if there were any black money dealings in the name of Life Mission projects.

In her statements to the investigating agencies, Swapna has said that the money found in her locker was received for facilitating construction contracts under the Life Mission scheme and other deals.

Swapna has claimed that the amount was the commission she received from Unitac Builders and Sane Ventures for the contracts they won for the construction of 140 flats funded by UAE-based Red Crescent under the Life Mission Project, the construction of the UAE Consulate's new office in Thiruvananthapuram and for maintenance of other UAE consulates in the country.

While Unitac representatives, during questioning, admitted to having paid commission, Sane Ventures officials denied making any such payment.

The ED will also question UAFX Solutions and Fourth Force, which won the contract for visa stamping centres from the UAE Consulate despite competition from two leading private financial institutions in Kerala. This is to ascertain if Swapna’s statement that these two companies also paid commission is true.

The ED will record the statements of everyone who had any kind of financial dealings with Swapna in the last two years. The investigation team has indicated that it would take three months to find out all those who laundered money, invested and profited from the gold smuggling activities and also the other beneficiaries.

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