Kochi: Thiruvananthapuram gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh wielded 'considerable influence' in the Chief Minister’s office, the Enforcement Directorate told the Principal District and Sessions Court.
The ED told the court that the agency would once again question M Sivasankar, the now removed Principal Secretary to Chief Minister.
The ED said in its statement in court that it was evident from questioning that Swapna had a close association with Sivasankar. Swapna and Sivasankar had met in the UAE when the top brass of the Kerala government were in that country to mop up money for flood relief, between October 17 and 21, 2018.
Sivasankar knew well that Swapna’s antecedents were questionable, the ED said in court, seeking to extend the custody of other accused Sarith and Sandeep, apart from Swapna.
The ED said it was looking into the statement of the three accused that they had high-level connections. The agency said it also was investigating the beneficiaries of any or all of the deals done by the accused.
The ED said the accused, if granted bail, could destroy evidence and go into hiding. The court extended the ED custody of the accused till Monday.
Cash to dollar
The investigating agencies suspect that Swapna Suresh managed to convert Rs 75 lakh into US dollars with the tacit support of some bank employees.
Informed sources said the amount came from Red Crescent towards the state government’s Life Mission project.
The spokesperson of the private bank which handles the account of the UAE Consulate told Manorama that such a transaction would never happen through the proper banking channel.
The spokesperson said an internal inquiry found that the bank’s forex mechanisms had not been used for this transaction. It is also suspected that multiple foreign exchange agencies were involved in the rupee-dollar-conversion deal.
The spokesperson said the bank had not done any illegal transaction and would cooperate wholeheartedly with the investigation.
It is also suspected that the bank employees were coerced into doing the illegal deal by saying that the consulate would withdraw its account entirely from the bank.
Sources said Swapna could have sensed the danger in converting such a huge amount on her on and roped in the services of the bank staff.
The actual case relates to a 30-kg gold seizure made at the Thiruvananthapuam international airport on July 5 by the Customs. The agency recorded the arrest of Swapna Suresh then. After this, the national Investigation Agency and the Enforcement Directorate stepped in to seek out the money and gold trail. The NIA was roped in as the government suspected that the gold and cash were used to fund anti-national activities including recruitment to radical organisations.
The ED is looking into the various financial deals of the accused, including those in other countries like the UAE where the accused had business and transactional links.