Kochi: K T Ramees, considered to be the mastermind of the Trivandrum Airport gold smuggling case, had enquired with her if officials at the UAE consulate would help with the smuggling operations, Swapna Suresh, one of the key accused, has told the investigating agencies in her statement.
“Ramees asked Sandeep if consulate officials could be used to smuggle gold,” Swapna told Customs officials. “Sandeep discussed the matter with me and Sarith. But we said that would not be possible. We, however, said that Customs would not check the baggage belonging to the consulate as it had diplomatic protection,” she said. “Sandeep informed Ramees about this. Later, Ramees and Sandeep held a discussion at a hotel in Thiruvananthapuram in June 2019. The next day, Sarith, Sandeep and Ramees and I discussed details about smuggling in the parking area of a gymnasium,” Swapna told the Customs officials.
She said she and Sarith told Ramees that gold could not be smuggled in diplomatic baggage without the knowledge of the Consul General of the UAE Consulate.
“I told him that the Consul General would have to be paid $1,000 per kilogramme of gold smuggled. Ramees said this amount was too much but agreed to pay $1,000 each to the Consul General, Sarith and me.”
Ramees had said that he would smuggle two kilogrammes of gold each time. He also agreed to pay Sandeep Rs 50,000 for each smuggled gold consignment.
“As per Ramees's request, I arranged for his meeting with the Consul General but that did not take place,” she said.
Swapna said the trial of smuggling dummy baggage without gold was carried out at the insistence of those who had invested money in the gold smuggling operations. “Ramees was given the consulate documents required for the dummy baggage to get past Customs officials. I was the one who informed Sandeep that the permission of the Consul General had been obtained for using the diplomatic baggage for smuggling,” she said.
“Later, in a single day two dummy baggage containing food items arrived at the Thiruvananthapuram Cargo Complex. Sarith collected the luggage and handed it to Sandeep. He used the Consulate vehicle to transport the baggage,” Swapna said in her statement.
Central agencies – National Investigation Agency, Customs and the Enforcement Directorate, are conducting separate inquiries into the seizure of gold worth nearly Rs 15 crore from a "diplomatic baggage" at Thiruvananthapuram International airport on July 5.
Swapna, Sivasankar held talks for commission-based contract with Hyd co
Chief minister’s former principal secretary M Sivasankar had drawn up a plan to replicate the project model that was used to obtain Rs 4.48 crore as commission from Unitac Builders for the Wadakkancherry Life Mission housing project contract.
The Enforcement Directorate, which is probing the money trial, has learnt that Swapna Suresh and Sivasankar had held discussions with Ponnar Industries in Hyderabad regarding this.
The ED inspected the establishment on Wednesday and seized documents.
Swapna took part in the negotiations for illegal financial transactions by claiming to be an intermediary for the plans of the state government.
Swapna received Rs 49 lakh as commission for flood-related repair work
Abdul Latif, owner of the firm Car Palace, paid a commission of $70,000 (Rs 49 lakh) to Swapna Suresh alone to win the contract for a project through the UAE Consulate to repair 150 houses that were damaged in the floods.
Swapna did not disclose the amount of commission received by others. There was no inquiry into the matter as no one had complained about it.
Unitac had paid a commission of Rs 4.48 crore to secure a contract to build 140 flats in Wadakkancherry under the Life Mission project with the contribution received from UAE-based Red Crescent.
The ED investigation has revealed that a huge amount of money was lost as commission in two projects that were implemented by the UAE Consulate in the aftermath of the catastrophic floods in Kerala.
