The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a charge sheet against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s former Principal Secretary M Sivasankar as the first accused and Swapna Suresh as the second accused in the Life Mission bribery case.
The ED filed the charge sheet in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) special court in Kochi on Thursday. The ED filed a charge sheet against Sivasankar in the case the other day, after which Swapna Suresh was included in the charge sheet.
M Sivasankar was the ninth accused in the case when the ED started its investigation. Unitac MD Santosh Eapan is the seventh accused in the case. There are a total 11 accused in the case. After examining the charge sheet, the special court will send summons to the accused ,including Swapna.
The ED earlier had stated that M Sivasankar is the kingpin in the case. The charge sheet claimed that Sivasankar is the person who received the bribe and he has parked the amount in the bank account of another accused Swapna Suresh.
Recently, the Kerala High Court, in the order rejecting the bail plea of Sivasankar, has asked why the prosecution is delaying the arrest of Swapna Suresh, who had an active role in the crime.
The ED has sought the issuance of a warrant for Khalid, a foreign national named as an accused in the case. The UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram and the Kerala LIFE Mission entered into an agreement to construct a housing complex at Wadakkanchery using the Red Crescent’s funds in 2019.
It has been alleged that Sivasankar and the UAE Consul General received kickbacks from Unitac builders for awarding the work of construction of the housing complex to them. The alleged corruption came to light after former UAE Consulate employees Swapna Suresh and Sarith PS were arrested by the ED and Customs in the gold smuggling case.