Kochi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has alleged in the Kerala High Court that M Sivasankar, the former principal secretary to the chief minister, was behind the operations to smuggle gold through diplomatic baggage.
All the profits made from the crime were meant for Sivasankar, the agency argued in the court while opposing his anticipatory bail application.
He is an accomplice in the conspiracy. Even though Swapna Suresh fronted for the operations, all the strings of the racket were in his hands, the agency argued.
The agency also told the court that Sivasankar had called Customs officials over the phone asking them not to check the luggage that was seized and the baggage that had come earlier or to send them back to the UAE.
However, Sivasankar’s lawyer argued that these were just fictional stories being made up by the investigative agencies. After hearing the arguments for Sivasankar's anticipatory bail, the court reserved its verdict till October 28. ED and the Customs Department have been instructed not to arrest him until then.
The Customs Department argued that Sivasankar has been evading questioning and that granting anticipatory bail to him would result in the destruction of evidence.
Attempt to put me in jail: Sivasankar
The Supreme Court has ruled that anticipatory bail can be granted for economic offences. But the attempt here is to somehow imprison him, Sivasankar said. His reputation and family life have been shattered to some extent, he said.
The accusation that he was involved in money laundering is false, the suspended bureaucrat said. The chartered accountant says the bank locker in Swapna Suresh’s name was opened in 2018, while the gold smuggling started in November 2019, he said.
“I cooperated as much as possible with all the agencies (investigating the gold smuggling case). I travelled for 600 hours and faced more than a hundred hours of questioning. The health problems I had got exacerbated by the travels. They have even alleged that the hospital treatment I required was drama,” Sivasankar said.
Besides the Enforcement Directorate, the Customs Department and the National Investigation Agency are also probing smuggling of gold worth over Rs 100 crore through diplomatic baggage addressed to the UAE Consulate at Thiruvananthapuram since November last year. The racket came to light when the Customs seized 30 kg of 24 carat gold worth Rs 14.82 crore at Thiruvananthapuram airport on July 5 this year.
