'Kerala CM authorised me to act as single point of contact': Sivasankar admits to ED

Former Principal Secretary to Chief Minister M Sivasankar has told the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that he was the single point of contact between UAE Consulate and Kerala government in connection with the gold smuggling case. Shivasankar was called for questioning in light of various digital evidence which the investigating agency has allegedly retrieved from various accused in the gold smuggling scam.

ED submitted the statement to the Special Court. According to the statement, Sivasankar said that he is not aware of the meeting mentioned by Swapna Suresh in 2017 where the Chief Minister of Kerala had indicated to the Consul General that he will be the single point of contact for matters related to UAE Consulate and the government. He further said that he was authorised by the CM of Kerala to act as the single point of contact as early as in June/July 2016 itself. He also explained to ED about the relationship with the Kerala Gold Smuggling Case accused Swapna Suresh.

"I know Swapna as the Secretary to the Consul General since early 2017 when I first met her. Subsequently I became family friends with her and I know her husband, children and parents very well. I know Sarith (another accused in the case) as Swapna's colleague and have met him on various occasions at Swapna's house. I have also gone to his house twice and met his parents. I met Sandeep (another accused) only three to four times. All meetings with Sandeep were in the presence of Swapna, Sarith and Swapna's family," said Sivasankar.

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Furthermore, he stated that he used to drop into their house for dinner initially once in a month from mid-2017. Later, he joined the family for dinner at their house more frequently. According to the reports, he explained about the diplomatic consignment that came from UAE.

"There was a short term project opening which was there in Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Ltd. (KSITIL) for which I had asked her to submit her resume to M/s Price Waterhouse Coopers Pvt. Ltd. I had helped her financially at times. On 1st July or so Swapna called me and informed me that some diplomatic consignment sent from UAE to the Consulate in Trivandrum was pending for clearance at Air Cargo Complex Trivandrum. She requested me to call the Assistant Commissioner, Air Cargo Complex to clear the cargo. She also told me that she had called the Boss of the AC, Air Cargo Complex in Cochin, but he told her that he was on leave," said Sivasankar.

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(With Inputs from ANI)

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