Thiruvananthapuram: Gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh has claimed Rs 1 crore seized from the bank locker was the commission she received for working as an agent of the Life Mission Project, putting the Pinarayi government and M Sivasankar, former Principal Secretary to the CM, in a fix.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is the chairman of the Life Mission project.
Swapna's attempt to prove this much money was not amassed through gold smuggling has put the government on the defensive.
After the massive floods of 2018, the CM had visited Dubai, seeking aid for the state. Four days before the CM’s visit, Sivasankar and Swapna had gone to Dubai from Thiruvananthapuram in the same flight, the probe team figured out.
During this visit, the UAE Red Crescent Authority promised an aid of Rs 20 crore.
Subsequently, Red Crescent deputy secretary general for international aid affairs and Life Mission CEO U V Jose signed an MoU in the presence of the Chief Minister.
This aid is being used to construct 140 flats on two acres of government land at Wadakkanchery in Thrissur.
Swapna has revealed that she was given Rs 1 crore as commission by a private company for securing this contract.
This money was seized from the bank locker that belonged to Swapna and Sivasankar's chartered accountant.
The chartered accountant had earlier told the National Investigation Agency (NIA) that Sivasankar had directed him to open a bank account with Swapna.
The latest revelation has fuelled suspicion that the former Principal Secretary to the CM also got a commission over an aid that was procured with the Chief Minister's intervention. This has put the government in a spot.
A multi-agency probe was initiated after the Customs seized 30kg of gold from a diplomatic baggage addressed to the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram on July 5. Swapna Suresh, who was on the run after her name cropped up in the case, was nabbed from Bengaluru by the NIA.
Senior IAS official Sivasankar was suspended from service over his alleged association with the gold smuggling case accused and was removed from key posts.