Gold smuggling case: ED for further probe into Sivasankar’s role

KOCHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) which filed a chargesheet in the gold smuggling case has left the door open for further investigation into the role of M Sivasankar IAS in the case. “The role of M Sivasankar, who was the key person in the present government, in the entire episode has to be thoroughly investigated,” the agency specifically stated in its chargesheet submitted in the special court for PMLA cases on Wednesday.
ED has refered to statements given by various persons, including Sivasankar to support its argument.“…Sivasankar inter alia admitted that he had facilitated opening a locker for Swapna Suresh jointly with his chartered accountant P Venugopal. The probe revealed that Swapna was directly involved in the gold smuggling and had earned lucrative profits and proceeds of the crime were kept in the locker in the form of gold and cash,” the agency said it the chargesheet.
P Venugopal has also given a statement to ED that Sivasankar was kept informed and the locker was opened on his instruction. He said that he knew Sivasankar for 25 years and it was Sivasankar who introduced Swapna to him and asked him to advise her on financial matters. ED also refers to Sivasankar’s WhatsApp chats with Venugopal and his response when it confronted him with the chats, in the chargesheet.
“On being specifically asked about his message to Venugopal --‘the amount is 35. So, it is to be done separately?’ and Venugopal’s reply, “FD for 30 should be ok” to which he replied, “Ok. I will also come to your place by 3.30-3.40—he offered no comments and stated that he is not sure whether the message was written by him or it was forwarded from someone,” ED said in the chargesheet.
“In another chat, Venugopal said, ‘Kept in locker in her presence at 2pm today and he replied ‘thanks’ and thereafter Venugopal again messaged him, ‘Sir can you call me when nobody is in ur room and when u r free and he replied ok. Sivasankar offered no comments to these chats either,” the chargesheet said.
Sivasankar had claimed on August 15 that he did not know Swapna had a huge pile of cash with her. He also said he did not instruct Venugopal to open a bank locker for Swapna, and that it was Venugopal who informed him of the opening of the bank locker.
He told ED that Swapna was facing financial difficulty and he had helped her. “…One or two days after he introduced Swapna to Venugopal, Swapna handed over the cash in a bag to Venugopal at his residence. He was also present when the bag was handed over but he did not know the exact amount in the bag,” the chargesheet said referring to Sivasankar’s statement.
“In August 2019, Swapna resigned from the UAE consulate and sought his help to get a job. He asked Swapna to submit her resume to PriceWaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd with respect to an opening in the Space Park project. He also stated that Swapna had put his name as a reference in her CV,” the chargesheet stated.
Despite taking his statement multiple times, ED has not arrayed Sivasankar as a witness in the case. The witness list only includes P Venugopal, Santhosh Eappen of Unitac and Vinod PV of Sane Venture apart from the investigating officers of ED and NIA.