Kerala gold, dollar smuggling case: Customs showcause notice names CM Pinarayi Vijayan
Aug 11, 2021
Kochi (Kerala) [India], August 11 : Customs Department has issued a show-cause on the alleged involvement of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and former speaker P Sreeramakrishnan in the Kerala dollar smuggling case based on a statement by Swapna Suresh and Sarith PS, the accused in the Kerala dollar and gold smuggling case.
Swapna Suresh and Sarith PS have alleged that CM Vijayan and former Speaker Sreeramakrishnan were involved in sending foreign currency to the United Arab Emirates through the officials of the UAE consulate.
In a show cause notice, Swapna and Sarith told Customs, "CM Pinarayi Vijayan and former Speaker Sreeramakrishnan sent dollars to UAE through Ahmed Al Doukhi, diplomat of the Consulate General Office and Consul General Jamal Al Zaabi."
After the allegations Customs customs examined former Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, M Sivasankar, Additional and Joint Chief Protocol, Shine A Haq and Assistant Protocol Officer of the General Administration Department, Harikrishnan MS and their statements were recorded under Section 108 of the Customs Act, 1962.
Customs has sent a notice to Khaled Mohamed Ali Shoukry (former finance head, UAE Consulate), Sarith PS, Swapna Suresh, Sandeep HN, Santosh Eappen, and M Sivasankar.
As the Customs officials could not examine the diplomats, involved in the case, the investigation is still underway.
According to Swapna's statement, in 2017, Sarith was asked to collect a packet from Sivasankar, who was visiting the UAE with CM Pinarayi Vijayan.
After collecting the packet from Sivasankar, Sarita, who was a PRO at the Consulate General office, was told to deliver it to Ahmed.
Sarita said that after scanning the packet at the Consulate General she realized that the packet contained dollars. After the packet was delivered to Ahmed, Sarith received a tip of USD 1000 from Consul General Jamal al Zaabi. In 2020, former speaker Sreeramakrishnan gave a bag to Swapna Suresh and Sarith and asked Sarith to deliver it to Jamal.
Meanwhile, the Kerala High Court stayed the State government's order to appoint a Judicial Commission headed by Justice VK Mohanan to probe against the Enforcement Directorate officers who are investigating the Kerala Gold smuggling Case and Dollar Smuggling Case.
The Commission has been constituted to probe into the allegations of Gold Smuggling and Dollar Smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair that they were compelled to give statements implicating the Chief Minister and other officials in the cases.
