Thiruvananthapuram: As a hunt is on to nab Swapna Suresh, the prime suspect in a major gold smuggling case that was busted at the city airport here, it has emerged that the UAE-bred woman had likely deceived authorities in the Kerala government as well as private recruitment agencies to land a plum job in the Space Park.

It has been learnt that Vision Technology and Staffing Solutions, the recruiting agency that had cleared Swapna’s application, was registered just before she got the job.

However, no action has been taken against PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which had hired Swapna through the agency.

The consultancy firm said that it had appointed Swapna through a Delhi-based recruiting agency. It claimed the agency had run the background check on Swapna and had given her a clean chit.

In TV channel debates on the controversy, the leaders of the Left front have maintained that Vision Technologies is the agency concerned.

According to the records of the Corporate Affairs Ministry of the Union government, the agency was registered on September 25, 2019. PwC had appointed Swapna in Space Park, an undertaking of the Kerala IT Department, in October 2019 through this agency.

It is baffling why PwC would use the services of a company that was registered just a month before Swapna was hired when there were recruiting agencies with which it has had ties for years.

Fake degree docs

It has also emerged that Swapna had used a fake degree certificate to get the job.

She had submitted a B.Com degree certificate purportedly issued by the Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Technological University in Lonere, Maharashtra. The university has, however, confirmed that the signature and seal on the certificate are forged and that there are no security stamps on it.

Swapna was not a student of the university, and neither the university nor the colleges under it offered the B.Com course, its Controller of Examinations Dr Vivek S Sathe told Manorama.

The Kerala police had seized the degree certificate as part of their investigations into a false sexual harassment case Swapna had filed against an officer at Air India SATS.

CMO to scrutinise Swapna's appointment

The Kerala Chief Minister’s Office has started an investigation into Swapna's appointment at Space Park.

Files have been requested from top officials at the IT department as part of the inquiry ordered by the Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan.

Former IT secretary M Sivasankar is under a cloud for his alleged close ties with Swapna. He was removed from the post and as the principal secretary of the chief minister on July 7 after Swapna became a prime suspect in the case.

The investigation will also look into how Swapna continued to be an employee of the IT department despite the crime branch informing the Kerala High Court in February that it was proven that she had filed a false sexual harassment case at Air India SATS, where she had worked as a trainer in 2013.

Swapna had reportedly accused a ground handling officer at Air India SATS of sexual harassment. The crime branch has been investigating the allegation.

During interrogation, Swapna had admitted to the crime branch that she had made false allegations and that she had produced a woman under a false name before the Air India inquiry committee that was looking into her allegation.

Swapna on ties with the Consulate

The UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram had asked Swapna to help it with administrative matters even after her resignation, in view of her experience and familiarity with its functioning, Swapna has said in her anticipatory bail application filed before the Kerala High Court.

As reported earlier Sapna and P S Sarith Kumar, her aide in the alleged smuggling bid, were once employees of the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.

In her application, she said the Consul General of the Consulate returned to the UAE in April when India and the world were grappling with the COVID-19 outbreak. Subsequently, Rashid Khamis Al-Sheimeili became the Acting Consul General and the administrator of the consulate general office in Thiruvananthapuram. During this time, she worked for the consulate on a ‘work on request’ basis, she said.

When she had resigned, the Consul General, Jamal Hussain Al-Sabi, had issued her a certificate saying she had been the best employee among the 50-member staff at the office.

He had also given her another certificate commending her for her “outstanding service and commitment”, the application said.

'No criminal background’

The media was peddling false stories about her, Swapna alleged in her petition. She said she lives with her husband and two children. Her daughter is in the second year of her degree course and son is in class 3, she said.

Swapna also stated she has no criminal background.

She alleged that online channels and media were displaying her images in violation of the principles that have been laid down by the Supreme Court.

Stating that she is ready to cooperate with the investigation, in her anticipatory bail application she requested the court to direct the assistant commissioner of Customs at the air cargo wing of the Trivandrum airport to release her on bail if she is arrested.

Swapna has claimed in the application that she had no role in the smuggling operations and that she was being framed.

She said she was in hiding fearing those behind the racket.

Investigators, meanwhile, suspect that she could be at Breamore Estate, a British-era bungalow at the base of Ponmudi Hills near Thiruvananthapuram.

A person had seen her with another woman in a car and she had asked him for directions to Mankayam, they said.