PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has informed the state government that it cannot refund Rs 16 lakh paid as salary to Swapna Suresh, the main accused in the Thiruvananthapuram gold smuggling case.

It was PwC that had handpicked Swapna for the role of a consultant at Space Park.

With the emergence of the gold smuggling case and the later revelation that Swapna had forged her graduation and other university certificates to attain the job, the state government decided to penalise PwC.

In the wake of the development, the state government had asked PwC to repay the salary paid to Swapna, in February.

The government had reached out to PwC through the Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Limited (KSITIL), which had sought a legal opinion in the matter.

The KSITIL had decided to not pay Rs 1 crore in consultancy fees to PwC for its services offered for the Kerala Fibre Optic Network (KFON). PwC was the Project Management Unit for KFON project.

Swapna was paid Rs 19 lakh in salaries during her time at Space Park, of which Rs 16,15,873 was exempted from GST. The Financial Inspection Division had directed the KSITIL MD to get that amount from PwC.

In the event of a failure to recoup the amount from PwC, it has been recommended to collect the amount equally from a group of officials including former IT Secretary and KSITIL Chairman M Sivasankar, a co-accused in the gold smuggling case. Then KSITIL MD C Jayasankar Prasad and special officer Santosh Kurup will also have to contribute a share from their salaries.