The Customs (Preventive) is reportedly set to question M. Sivasankar, former Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, on suspicion of using the heft of his office to aid gold smuggling case suspect Swapna Suresh to convert the proceeds from the economic offence into foreign currency and spirit it away to Dubai.
Opposition parties, particularly the BJP, claimed that the move by the Customs to detain Mr. Sivasankar underscored the allegation that organised crime had access to the highest level of the State government. Mr. Sivasankar, who was suspended for misconduct, had often reported directly to the Chief Minister.
Parallel investigations by the Customs and Enforcement Directorate (ED) into the shadowy finances of the gold smuggling racket had reached the doorstep of Mr. Sivasankar on Friday evening.
Armed with a summons, Customs agents escorted Mr. Sivasankar into a car for transit to the Commissionerate in Kochi for questioning. Enroute, Mr. Sivasankar reported sick, and they hospitalised him.
The Customs was likely to seek the constitution of a medical board to gauge Mr. Sivasankar's health before executing its summons for interrogation. The manager of a private bank which handled the consulate's account had reportedly told ED that Swapna had pressurised him to convert vast amounts of Indian currency into US dollars in violation of RBI norms and FEMA provisions.
Swapna, who was an influential official at the diplomatic mission at the time, threatened that she would shift the consulate's account to another bank if the manager did not comply with her demand. He alleged that Mr. Sivasankar had thrown the heft of his office behind Swapna.
Concurrently, the Customs also perused immigration department documents and "found" that Mr. Sivasankar had travelled to Dubai along with Swapna several times during the 2017-19 period. The agencies suspect that Swapna used the trips to smuggle foreign currency out of the country.
Investigators were tight-lipped about the exact charges Mr. Sivasankar would face, if at all. They said they wanted to find out whether he had colluded with Swapna to launder the proceeds from crime and helped her smuggle it abroad.
