In the latest development on the controversies related to the gold smuggling cases, the Customs Department has cited two key accused in the case to have alleged that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was sent money while he was in UAE, through UAE Consular officers in Thiruvananthapuram. Gold smuggling accused and former staff of the Consulate, Sarith PS and Swapna Suresh have been cited in the 77 page show cause notice issued on July 29, to have alleged this.
According to the alleged statement of Swapna, in early 2017, a day after CM Pinarayi had gone to UAE for an official visit, M Sivasankar, suspended IAS officer and former Principal Secretary of the Chief Minister (presently an accused in the gold smuggling case), had contacted Swapna saying that a package needs to be urgently sent to the CM without any hindrance and delay. According to the alleged statement, Swapna contacted the Consul General for that and he made arrangements for transporting this through another staff of the Consulate. Notably, in the alleged statement, Swapna adds that Sarith who brought the package to the Consul General, told her that he found that the packet contained currency on screening it through X-Ray machine.
Meanwhile, the statement allegedly given by Sarith to the Customs, gives more details about the incident. As per the statement, Sarith collected a packet from Harikrishnan, a staff at the General Administration Department, which the CM had forgotten to carry. “This packet was rectangular in shape and was covered in a thick brown paper, that on reaching the Consulate, out of his curiosity, he put the said packet in the X-Ray machine available in the Consulate and found that the packet contained bundle of currency and some other items,” the show cause notice alleges Sarith to have said.
However, M Sivasankar’s statement about the same incident contradicts the statements given by Sarith and Swapna. In the statement deposed by Sivasankar on November 30, 2020, he allegedly agreed that he had approached Swapna to send a package urgently to the CM who was in UAE. However, he adds that those were mementos meant to be given to dignitaries of the UAE. “Only one such memento was ready before the delegation left for UAE and that the other three or four mementos which were subsequently readied had to be taken to UAE and for this he had requested the Consul General to help him,” the show-cause notice states.
The Kerala government had faced flak after a gold smuggling case, pertaining to the smuggling of 30 Kg gold through diplomatic channels, surfaced last year. The then Principal Secretary and IT Secretary M Sivasankar was arrested by Customs and Enforcement Directorate, allegeing links.