Rs4.25 crore offered as bribe, not commission, ED discredits Swapna's statement

The ED has found that the Rs 4.25 crore that Unitac claims to have paid as commission for winning the construction contract of the Life Mission project in Wadakkanchery was, in fact, a bribe.
The ED has found that the Rs 4.25 crore that Unitac claims to have paid as commission for winning the construction contract of the Life Mission project in Wadakkanchery was, in fact, a bribe.
The ED has found that the Rs 4.25 crore that Unitac claims to have paid as commission for winning the construction contract of the Life Mission project in Wadakkanchery was, in fact, a bribe.
Kochi: The Enforcement Division (ED) is examining the activities of four companies alleged to have conducted financial dealings with the accused in the Trivandrum airport gold smuggling case.
The agency will gather information from the representatives of the UAE Consulate's contracting agencies, UAFX Solutions, Fourth Force, Unitac and Sane Ventures, which is a subsidiary of Unitac.
Swapna Suresh, one of the key accused in the smuggling case, has told investigating agencies that the huge amount and foreign currency that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) found in her locker and bank accounts were received as commission from these four companies on various occasions.
The ED has found that the Rs 4.25 crore that Unitac claims to have paid as commission for winning the construction contract of the Life Mission project in Wadakkanchery was, in fact, a bribe. The agency said many of the statements regarding the payment it obtained from various people had factual inconsistencies. It, therefore, decided to look into the financial dealings of the four institutions to see if there was a wider racket.
UAFX Solutions and Fourth Force had won the contracts for UAE visa stamping, police clearance and certificate attestation for applicants from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The two companies were preferred over two leading private financial companies from Kerala that had also tried to get the contract.
Unitac and Sane Ventures got the contract to construct flats under the Life Mission scheme of the Kerala government.
The Rs 75 lakh transferred through the bank account of Isomonk, a partnership company run by the gold smuggling case accused P S Sarith, Swapna and Sandeep Nair, was the commission received for the Life Mission project. The remaining amount from the total ‘commission’ of Rs 4.25 crore was meant as a bribe for some other people, investigators believe.
ED seeks Life Mission files
Meanwhile, the ED has written to the Chief Secretary seeking the files related to the Life Mission scheme.
It has also sent a letter to the district registrars of the state seeking details of the property owned by the accused in the gold smuggling case.
The ED is investigating the Rs 20 crore funding received from the UAE-based Red Crescent for the Life Mission project in Wadakkanchery. A copy of the letter was sent to the local self-government department secretary also.