ED arrests Kerala CM’s ex-principal secretary Sivasankar in LIFE Mission project case
The ED case is based on a CBI FIR where it was alleged that the project was funded by a foreign entity in violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
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M Sivasankar is the former principal secretary to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday arrested M Sivasankar, former principal secretary to Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, from Kochi in connection with its money laundering probe into the state government’s Life Mission project.
Sivasankar, sources said, had been called for questioning by the agency in connection with the case on Tuesday following which he was put under arrest for non-cooperation.
The ED case is based on a CBI FIR where it was alleged that the project was funded by a foreign entity in violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). The state has gone against the case to the apex court, arguing that government projects have FCRA exemption.
“There are some irregularities in the project and many contracts have been found to be dubious. It is for this reason that Sivasankar’s custodial interrogation is required,” an ED official said.
Notably, Sivasankar had earlier been arrested by the ED in 2020 in connection with the Kerala gold smuggling case where it had also arrested his alleged close aide Swapna Suresh who was touted to be the key player in the gold smuggling operation through diplomatic baggage.
At that time the ED had told a Kochi court that out of the 36 projects, tenders of 26 were bagged by just two companies. It had alleged that before issuing tender for these projects, Sivasankar had handed over the confidential details to Swapna who had used the information to earn crores of rupees. It had told court that during interrogation, Swapna had said that Sivasankar had benefited from all the “bribery” involved in the project.
Under the project, the UAE Red Crescent, which is affiliated to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, agreed to provide 10 million UAE dirhams for constructing housing units to the flood victims, and a health centre. For this, a Memorandum of Understanding was entered into on July 11, 2019, between UAE Red Crescent Authority and the Government of Kerala through the Chief Executive Officer of Life Mission.
As the project ran into a controversy, Congress MLA Anil Aikkara lodged a complaint on the basis of which CBI registered a case.
The Kerala High Court had earlier rejected a plea by the state to quash the FIR. Dismissing the petitions against CBI investigation, the HC had said that “the typical nature of the facts involved in the instant case would reveal a high profile intellectual fraud played in furtherance of MoU so as to avoid audit by CAG and to get kickbacks and gratifications. The very nature of the mischief done in furtherance of MoU would suggest involvement of highly educated professionals – a mastermind behind it”.
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