ED arrests Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan's former secretary Sivasankar

With Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's former principal secretary M Sivasankar being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the alleged corruption in a housing scheme for the poor in Kerala sponsored by a UAE-based agency, the Opposition Congress and UAE-gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh resumed the attack against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Opposition leader V D Satheesan alleged that the Chief Minister had involvement in the corruption in the housing scheme under the government's flagship Life Mission scheme. He sought the Chief Minster's reaction to Sivasankar's arrest.

Swapna Suresh alleged that Chief Minster and his family members were all involved in the corruption.

Sivasankar, who retired from service last month, was earlier arrested by the ED and Customs in connection with the gold smuggling case involving officials of the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram, including Swapna Suresh.

Also Read — Kerala CM's former secretary Sivasankar gets bail in dollar smuggling case

Sivasankar was being quizzed by the ED in Kochi over the last couple of days in connection with the housing scheme case. His arrest was recorded by late on Tuesday night. He was arraigned as the fifth accused in the case. He was produced before a court and handed over to ED custody for five days of quizzing.

Sivasankar allegedly accepted a bribe for awarding the work of the housing project at Wadakkanchery in Thrissur district to private firm Unitac at the behest of UAE consulate officials. The company MD Santosh Eapen had confessed that over Rs 4 crore was given as commission to various persons. Costly mobile phones given as commission were already recovered. Around Rs. one crore was recovered from a bank locker of the gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh was suspected to be the commission received by Sivasankar.

Sivasankar was initially arrested by the ED in 2020 October in connection with the gold smuggling and money laundering cases. Customs later recorded his arrest. He was in judicial remand for over three months. Though he was suspended from service, he was reinstated after he received bail. But he was not given any key posts.

Sivasankar served in the CMO for nearly four years from 2016. He was holding key responsibilities in the CMO. For that reason, Sivasankar's involvement in corruption and his links with the gold smuggling accused had caused much embarrassment to the Chief Minister.