Kannur: Kochi Customs Preventive Commissioner Rajendra Kumar has ordered M Sivasankar, former principal secretary to the chief minister, to pay a fine of Rs 50 lakh and Swapna Suresh, the prime accused, to cough up Rs 6 crore in the diplomatic baggage gold smuggling case. A total of Rs 66.60 crore has been imposed on 44 accused, including two former diplomats of the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.
The order is part of the Customs procedure in the case of the seizure of 30.245 kg of smuggled gold worth Rs 14.82 crore from the Thiruvananthapuram cargo complex on July 5, 2020.
Former Consul General of the UAE Consulate Jamal Hussain Al Sabi, former admin attaché Rashid Khamis Al Ashmei, P S Sarith, Sandeep Nair, and KT Rameez will also have to pay a fine of Rs 6 crore each.
Customs broker Kappithan Agencies has to pay a fine of Rs 4 crore, while Faisal Fareed, P Muhammed Shafi, E Saithalavi, and T M Sanju have to remit Rs 2.5 crore fine each. Swapna's husband S Jayashankar and Rabins Hameed are imposed a fine of Rs 2 crore each.
A M Jalal, P T Abdu, T M Muhammed Anwar, P T Ahamed Kutty, and Mohammed Mansoor have been fined Rs 1.5 crore each and Mohammed Shameem is fined Rs 1 crore. The other accused have been fined between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 50 lakh.
In addition to the seized 30 kg of gold, the circumstantial evidence shows that the diplomatic baggage smuggling gang smuggled 136.828 kg of gold worth Rs 46.50 crore between November 2019 and March 2020, the order stated.
The accused can approach the Customs Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal against the order of the Preventive Commissioner. The prosecution complaint under the Customs Act in the case is under the consideration of the Economic Offences Court in Kochi.
