The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday raised serious allegations against the Kerala chief minister’s office in connection with the gold smuggling and related cases.

In its report submitted at the Special Court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases in Kochi, the ED said Kerala chief minister’s former principal secretary M Sivasankar and his team at the chief minister’s office were fully aware of the smuggling of gold and other goods through the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.

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In an affidavit, filed along with the application seeking another day’s custody of Sivasankar, who is the fifth accused in the case,the ED said Swapna Suresh, second accused in the case, while being interrogated on Tuesday allegedly said: “ Sivasankar and his team in CM’s office was fully aware of the gold smuggling and other electronic items done through diplomatic channels.”

“Sivasankar was also aware of the kickbacks given by Unitac Builders to Swapna and her close associates, including Khalid, chief finance officer, UAE Consulate, in lieu of facilitating the award of a contract from Red Crescent under the LIFE Mission Project.

Out of this, an amount of Rs 1 crore (approximately) was subsequently seized by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from the lockers belonging to Swapna, which was meant for Sivasankar,” the ED stated in the affidavit.