Thiruvananthapuram: The investigations into the diplomatic parcel gold smuggling case cannot proceed without footage from the surveillance cameras at the Thiruvananthapuram Secretariat building being examined, central agencies have told their superiors in a report.
Officials of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Customs Department said this during a review meeting done through videoconferencing on Tuesday.
The examination of the footage is necessary to verify the statements made by the chief minister’s former principal secretary M Sivasankar during questioning by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
According to Sivasankar, Swapna Suresh and PS Sarith, the two main accused in the gold smuggling case, visited the Secretariat several times on days he was absent from his office in the complex. The investigation team has confirmed the statement by looking at the phone records of the accused.
Sivasankar had said that he had no clue whom Swapna and Sarith met in his absence. The accused, however, have said that they had a personal relationship only with Sivasankar.
The central agencies believe that facts will come out if the accused are questioned after showing them the camera footage from the Secretariat.
Kerala police want Swapna’s custody
The Kerala police have initiated the process to seek Swapna’s custody to question her in the case of a false complaint she had filed against an Air India SATS official and about the fake degree certificate she had produced to get the job in the IT department.
The crime branch is investigating the fake complaint case, while the local police are looking into the fake degree case.
Rs 3.18 lakh was govt's monthly expense for Swapna
The monthly expense on using the services of Swapna Suresh as a consultant at the government-owned Space Park under the state IT department was Rs 3.18 lakh, according to details obtained through the right to information (RTI).
The Kerala State IT Infrastructure Ltd has so far disbursed Rs 19.06 lakh to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the consultancy that hired Swapna, who has 10th class qualification and who got the job with a fake degree. If the amount pending is also included, then the cost would come to about Rs 25 lakh.
The government had said that the cost of hiring Swapna was Rs 2.7 lakh per month. It had, however, not specified the applicable GST rate. If that is also taken into account, then the amount adds up to Rs 3.18 lakh. The rate for a junior consultant under central government rules is Rs 2.7 lakh.
PwC, the party to the contract with the Kerala State IT Infrastructure Ltd, pocketed a monthly commission of over Rs 1.3 lakh for the appointment, or about half of the consultancy amount. PwC gave the remaining Rs 1.46 lakh to Vision Technology, an intermediary agency that is supposed to have done the background check on Swapna Suresh on the consultancy firm’s behalf. Of this, Rs 1.1 lakh was paid to Swapna as salary. The remaining Rs 36,000 went to Vision Technology as commission.
