M Sivasankar in custody of Enforcement Directorate | Photo: PTI
Kochi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has received unconfirmed information that former principal secretary to the chief minister M Sivasankar had benami dealings abroad. The ED is also examining if the 1.90 lakh Dollars, which was reportedly smuggled abroad by gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh, includes money owned by Sivsankar also.
The ED officials said that Sivasankar tried to intervene in Customs procedures during gold smuggling but stayed away from contacting them after the gold was seized to avoid being caught. He suspected that he might be identified if any intervention was made.
There are evidences to prove that Sivasankar used to contact Customs officials several times for baggage clearance in 2019. However, he refrained from calling them for this purpose in the last phase of the smuggling assuming that he is likely to be nabbed by the officials, the ED said.
Sivasankar was aware that the Customs had forwarded a letter to the Ministry of External Affairs in order to open the diplomatic baggage. Following this, he stayed away from intervening. The ED officials are collecting more information from Sivasankar who is currently in their custody.
RELATED STORIES
.jpg?$p=fdf1e0b&f=1x1&w=100&q=0.8)
.jpg?$p=08558d0&f=1x1&w=100&q=0.8)
.jpg?$p=d827704&f=1x1&w=100&q=0.8)
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
.jpg?$p=1990e2a&f=1x1&w=100&q=0.8)
.jpg?$p=1990e2a&q=0.8&f=16x11&w=104)
