He has been already granted bail in two other cases in which he was named as an accused after the investigations into the smuggling of gold through diplomatic baggage intensified in the last half year.

He has been already granted bail in two other cases in which he was named as an accused after the investigations into the smuggling of gold through diplomatic baggage intensified in the last half year.

He has been already granted bail in two other cases in which he was named as an accused after the investigations into the smuggling of gold through diplomatic baggage intensified in the last half year.

Kochi: The economic offences court here has remanded bureaucrat M Sivasankar till February 9 over the foreign currency smuggling case in which he was arrested by the Customs. Meanwhile, his bail plea will be considered on February 1.

He has been already granted bail in two other cases in which he was named as an accused after the investigations into the smuggling of gold through diplomatic baggage intensified in the last half year.

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The currency smuggling case pertains to the alleged smuggling of $1.9 lakh by Khalid Ali Shoukri, the former head of the finance section of the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.

Sivasankar was named as accused in the foreign currency smuggling case based on the statements of Swapna Suresh, a key accused in the gold smuggling case.

Swapna Suresh and P S Sarith had accompanied Khalid, who allegedly left for Oman with a bag containing the Dollars. They had accompanied him to avoid security checks at the Thiruvananthapuram airport, as per the statements, as they had managed passes for Green Channel facility.

Swapna in her statements had also claimed that Khalid had later gone to Cairo in Egypt from Oman.

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More Customs questioning

The Customs would take Sivasankar in custody for more questioning. As per the Code of Criminal Procedure, the probe team should take the accused in custody before the first remand period ends on February 9.

However, Sivasankar has alleged that he was arraigned as accused in the currency smuggling case to prevent him from getting the bail granted by the courts in the gold smuggling case registered by the Customs and the money-laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Sivasankar had also contended that the statements made by Swapna and Sarith, while in custody in the gold smuggling case, would not stand the scrutiny of law.

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The Customs had sought legal advice over slapping COFEPOSA (Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act) on Sivasankar. The Customs has not revealed more details on this. The COFEPOSA was invoked against the main accused, other than Sivasankar, and they have been awarded one-year preventive detention.

The probe team is reportedly weighing on the pros and cons if the COFEPOSA has to be invoked against a senior IAS officer.

Not under pressure: Customs Commissioner

Customs Preventive Commissioner Sumit Kumar has said that his teams, probing the gold smuggling and currency smuggling cases, are not under any pressure from the central government.

"The Customs is part of the central government. The probe is progressing in the dollar smuggling case. First, show-cause notice would be issued to the gold smuggling case accused and that would be followed by the charge-sheet," he explained.

Not summoned for questioning: Speaker

Meanwhile, Kerala Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan has said that the Customs had not summoned him for questioning in the currency smuggling case.

"Media reports have been making claims about the questioning. The party will take a call on me contesting the (assembly) elections," he added.

As reported earlier Sreeramakrishnan's links with Swapna and the overseas tours undertaken by him were also under scrutiny.