Life Mission case: ED arrests Kerala CM's ex-principal secretary Sivasankar

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested M Sivasankar, former principal secretary to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in connection with alleged violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulations) Act in the state government’s Life Mission project.

Sivasankar was being questioned by the central probe agency for the past three days in Kochi and his arrest was recorded on Tuesday night (February 14), officials said. He will be produced in a PMLA court shortly.

In the arrest order of Sivasankar, the ED claimed that he has taken a huge amount of money as bribe.

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“During the course of investigation, it is revealed that the Livelihood Inclusion Financial Empowerment (LIFE) mission of Govt. of Kerala had made an MoU with Red Crescent, an international charity organisation based in UAE for the construction of residential apartment to flood affected people in Wadakkanchery Municipality. Material evidence such as Whatsapp conversations between Sivasanhar and Swapna Suresh, (the prime accused in the gold smuggling case) clearly indicates that the contract was fixed for Unitac Builders & Developers run by Santhosh Eappen,” read the arrest order.

The ED also claims that Swapna Suresh has admitted to this during the questioning.

“She admitted that an upfront commission as bribe was demanded and Unitac Builders & Developers agreed to pay the same before execution of the project. It was also admitted by her that this upfront commission was paid by Santhosh Eappen to the officials after receiving the amount from the Red Crescent,” ED said.

The agency also claims that “huge amounts of money which had been collected for provision of residential homes to the hapless flood victims of Kerala was siphoned off as an upfront commission for allocation of the project”.

Sivasankar was summoned to appear for questioning on January 31. But it was postponed to Monday as he was retiring from service that day.

He was released from jail two years ago after spending 98 days in prison as an under trial in three related cases.

ED had earlier charged him for alleged unaccounted money transactions and smuggling foreign currency notes from India.

Besides, he is facing a CBI charge sheet under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act in the case related to the Life Mission project.

He has received bail in all cases. However, the NIA has not charged Sivasankar it its case related to the gold smuggling case.