Life Mission scam: Vigilance Bureau names Kerala CM's ex-aide Sivasankar as fifth accused

The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau on Monday has named M Sivasankar, former principal secretary of Kerala Chief Minister's Office, as the fifth accused in the Wadakkanchery life mission scam case. The bureau has submitted a report in a special vigilance court in Thiruvananthapuram.

The report has named M Sivasankar as the fifth accused along with Swapna Suresh, Sarith PS and Sandeep Nair, who were named as the sixth, seventh and eighth accused in the case. Swapna Suresh has been questioned by the agency in Attakkulangara jail in connection with the life mission scam case.

READ: Kerala gold smuggling: ED takes CM's ex-Secy Sivasankar into custody after HC denies bail

Meanwhile, M Sivasankar on Wednesday was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after being taken into custody.  The Kerala High Court had denied anticipatory bail to Sivasankar earlier in the day after which he was taken into custody by ED. Sources have reported that the ED has levelled money laundering and Benami charges against Sivasankar in the Kerala gold smuggling case. In the high court, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju had submitted a sealed case diary to the judge, stating categorically that it had clear evidence that showed Sivasankar making calls to customs officials not to check baggage that came via diplomatic channels.

READ: Court grants ED 7 days custody of Sivasankar in gold smuggling case

Life Mission scam

The target of the Life Mission was supposed to provide safe housing to nearly 4.30 lakh homeless people in Kerala within a span of 5 years. This includes modern housing complexes with the provision of livelihoods and social services like primary health care, skill development and financial inclusion.  

Recently, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala alleged that gold smuggling scam accused Swapna Suresh admitted before an NIA court that she received Rs.1 crore as commission from the project. He also slammed Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan for not making public a copy of the MoU between the state government and the UAE-based Red Crescent. Red Crescent had agreed to provide Rs.20 crore towards the Life Mission project.

Chennithala alleged that the commission involved in the case amounted to nearly Rs.9 crore. Disapproving of the vigilance probe ordered by the state government, Kerala BJP president K Surendran has alleged that this was an attempt to sabotage the Centre's probe and destroy the Life Mission documents. 

READ: Kerala gold smuggling probe: ED arrests Kerala CM's ex-principal secy M Sivasankar

READ: ED arrests suspended IAS officer Sivasankar in gold smuggling case

(With Inputs from ANI)