The Commissioner of Customs (Preventive) Kochi has imposed substantial fines on Swapna Suresh, M Sivasankar, former principal secretary to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and others accused in the 2020 diplomatic baggage gold smuggling case
The commissioner has slapped a total of Rs 66.60 crore fine on all the accused in the gold smuggling case. Former employee of UAE Consulate-General Office and prime accused in the case Swapna Suresh has been directed to pay Rs 6 crore while a fine of Rs 50 lakh was slapped on the former principal secretary to Kerala CM, M Sivasankar.
In addition to Swapna Suresh, the highest penalty of Rs 6 crore each was also slapped on other accused persons Sarith PS, Sandeep Nair, Ramees KT, former UAE consul general in Thiruvananthapuram Jamal Hussein Alzaabi, and UAE consulate administration attache Rashed Khamis Alimusaiquri Al Ashmei.
Mohammad Shafi, Saidalavi E, Samju TM, Shamsudheen, and Faisal Fareed, who funded the smuggled gold and facilitated the illegal activities, were ordered to pay Rs 2.5 crores each as a penalty.
AM Jaleel, Rabin Hameed, Abdu PT and Mohammad Anwar TM, who were involved in the smuggling of gold and transporting it to gold dealers were ordered to pay a fine of Rs two crores each. Jayashankar S, former husband of Swapna was fined Rs two crores. The accused PT Ahmedkutty and Mohammad Manzoor were ordered to Rs 1.5 crores each as a fine.
Apart from the penalty, Customs Commissioner Rajendra Kumar also ordered the confiscation of bank deposits and cars of the accused persons.
The penalty and conviction were ordered after the Customs Commissioner heard the accused persons. The Customs will now proceed to prosecute the accused persons, and procedure in this regard will be held at Ernakulam Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Economic Offence) court.
The alleged smuggling happened in July 2020, when customs seized a baggage containing 30.245 kg gold from the cargo complex at the Thiruvananthapuram airport. The gold was allegedly smuggled as the baggage of UAE consulate, misusing the diplomatic channel.
The accused will be able to file an appeal against the order at Customs Excises and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal.
Meanwhile, in the dollar smuggling case, the Commissioner of Customs (Preventive), Kochi has imposed a fine of Rs 65 lakh each on Swapna Suresh and former principal secretary to chief minister M Sivasankar
Customs Preventive Commissioner Rajendra Kumar has ordered Unitac MD Santhosh Eapen to pay a fine of Rs 1 crore and UAE Consul General Head of Finance Khaled Mohamed Ali Shoukry Rs 1.30 crore. The two other accused in the case Sarith and Sandeep have also been slapped with a fine of Rs 65 lakh each
The order stated that Khaled Mohamed Ali Shoukry illegally smuggled a large amount of foreign currency through Thiruvananthapuram airport. Khaled did not appear despite three notices. The fine has been imposed without hearing him
The customs have found that Sivasankar was aware of all the illegal activities centered around the UAE consulate