(Editor's note: This is the first part of a series into the financial fraud and other irregularities in the implementation of Kerala government's Life Mission project).

Kerala government's website announces that Mission LIFE (Livelihood, Inclusion and Financial Empowerment) is a comprehensive housing scheme for all the landless and homeless in the state. And it did generate a lot of goodwill for the government.

However, the mission is on the verge of losing its credibility with reports of bribes and corruption emerging each day. Large amounts of money earmarked for the houses appear to have already changed hands as commission, and what remains to be seen is who committed this scam and who all conspired in it.

Sample this. The irregularities in the housing complex construction in Wadakkanchery in Thrissur district came to light after the arrest of Swapna Suresh in connection with alleged gold smuggling case in Thiruvananthapuram. She is being questioned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials. Recently, she told the investigating officials that she got Rs 1 crore as commission for helping a firm to win the contract. In the wake of the controversy, the government stated that it had no role in the transactions and activities related to the project. The claim was proved hollow when the project's Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was surfaced.

Project supervision

The contract, signed between the UAE Consul General and Unitac Builders managing partner Santosh Eepan on July 31, 2019, stated that the construction should be done on the government land and under the supervision of the project consultancy firm and the state government.

This contract was signed after officials of the UAE Consulate and representatives of Red Crescent Authority based in Dubai signed a MoU (MoU) with the state government on July 11, 2019.

However, the agreement between the Consulate and Unitac did not specify who the project consultancy would be.

Housing complex with hospital

The deal between the UAE Red Crescent Authority and the state government stated that the MoU would form the framework for the AED 1 crore assistance that the Red Crescent Authority would be providing to the state.

According to the MoU, AED 70 lakh would be allocated for the construction of houses for those affected by floods and AED 30 lakh for building a hospital. This would be executed according to the detailed outline, plan and understanding as agreed upon in future by the government and the Red Crescent Authority, the MoU said.

The Wadakkanchery scheme

The Local Self-government Department’s order of July 11, 2019, stated that Habitat would be the project management consultancy for the Wadakkanchery Life Mission project. The order stated that 86 units worth Rs 13.06 crore are proposed at Charalparambu in Wadakkanchery under the project. The Charalparambu project is also mentioned in the order giving administrative sanction of Rs 644 crore for 24 such housing complexes in the state.

Habitat group revised the design several times as per the mission's instructions. However, the group pulled out when the mission announced that prefabrication technology would be used for the housing complex. Then Unitac won the contract However, it is the usual concrete building that is being constructed for the Wadakkanchery complex.

Website not working

Just as the website of a Bengaluru-based IT company disappeared under mysterious circumstances when the Sprinklr controversy was raging, the website of Unitac, the contractor for the Life Mission housing project in Vadakkanchery, also stopped working!

Shortly afterwards, the MoU signed with the Red Crescent in the presence of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also disappeared from the Life Mission's website.

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has accused the government of concealing the MoU, saying he was not given a copy despite demanding it in writing.

The government was, however, forced to hand over a copy to the Enforcement Directorate, which has been interrogating Swapna Suresh, an accused in the gold smuggling case and who is said to have got a commission for the Life Mission project.

The government found itself in a spot after details of the MoU signed by Red Crescent general secretary Mohammed Ateeq Al Falahi and Life Mission Chief Executive Officer UV Jose on July 11, 2019, came to light.

Same project, two construction types

The government's order granting administrative approval for the Life Mission housing complexes in the state was issued on the same day the MoU with the Red Crescent Authority was signed. The question remains why two types of construction were proposed on the same land for the same project.

The UAE Consulate was involved in two agreements. One is a contract worth Rs 14.24 crore (AED 70 lakh) with Unitac Builders for the construction of flats and the other with Unitac's sister company Sane Ventures for a maternity-child hospital and allied facilities worth Rs 6.10 crore (AED 30 lakh).

Shrouded in secrecy

The government's actions were shrouded in mystery from the very beginning.

Officials, who had raised questions about irregularities in the project, were quickly removed and everything was brought under the control of the Chief Minister's Office. In fact, at one point, M Sivasankar, who was the principal secretary to the Chief Minister, was in charge of Life Mission. When read in conjunction with the current events, it becomes clear that there were other motives behind all this.

Sivasankar has been suspended after his links with Swapna Suresh emerged.

Attempts to circumvent rules

There was great planning behind every move. During a review meeting on April 11, 2018, the Chief Minister had criticised the slow pace of the project. As a solution, it was suggested that an agency should be given the overall responsibility of the project. Soon after, it was decided to hand over the responsibility to the Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society (ULCC) without inviting tender notifications.

However, the government found itself in a dilemma after B Ashok, the then Local Self-government secretary, noted in the file that this would be illegal and in case of any legal issue, questions would be raised against the Chief Minister as the mission chairman of the project and others.

The government sought legal advice to find out if there was a way out, but decided not to go ahead with the idea after realising it would not be possible. It instead removed Ashok from the Local Government Department.

IAS officer Adeela Abdullah too was removed as CEO of Life Mission after she resisted pressure to award the contract without following rules. Eventually, she left citing health reasons.

Later, Kudumbasree Executive Director S Harikishore IAS was made the in charge. However, just two weeks later, Sivasankar himself became the head of Life Mission.

He headed Life Mission till the arrival of UV Jose last year. It has now become clear that Sivasankar controlled many matters related to the Life Mission project, including the agreement with Red Crescent.

Questions galore

The administrative sanction for a housing complex project worth Rs 13,09,77,775 in Wadakkanchery municipality was taken at the meeting of Life Mission’s State Level Empowered Committee (SLEC), held under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary on June 26, 2019.

The meeting also decided to validate the steps taken by Life Mission for selecting project management consultants (PMCs) to construct housing complexes in eight districts, including Wadakkanchery.

In the case of Wadakkanchery project, the MoU stated Rs 14.5 crore would be allocated for housing complex and Rs. 5.5 crore for a hospital. However, the administrative sanction for the housing complex was only 13.09 crore. What explains this difference?

Why was the MoU signed with UAE-based Red Crescent despite the Law Department’s warning that the central government’s permission should be sought before accepting assistance from foreign organisations?

Why was there no cabinet discussion on the assistance being received from Red Crescent before the MoU was signed?

Why was the demand of the Leader of the Opposition with constitutional status for a copy of the MoU ignored?

We need answers for all these questions.

What is Life Mission and who are the beneficiaries?

LIFE stands for livelihood, inclusion, financial, empowerment.

Beneficiaries: Landed homeless, beneficiaries of existing schemes but whose house work is not complete, those with temporary houses on wasteland owned by the government (poramboke), coastal and plantation areas, and the landless.

Total completed houses in two phases: 2,23,752

Phase III target: One lakh houses within a year

Last date to apply for those eligible: August 27, 2020

(Reporting Team: Jayan Menon, Zakir Hussain, M.A. Johnson, Jayachandran Ilankath, K Jayaprakash Babu, Mahesh Guptan, Ramesh Ezhuthachan, Arun Ezhuthachan, Mintu P. Jacob, Nahas Muhammad, Joji Simon, Pratheesh G. Nair, Naseeb Karatil, Shinto Joseph, Jiku Varghese Jacob.

Compilation: Ajish Muraleedharan)