Fresh charge sheet against smuggling accused Kerala IAS officer

Sivasankar, who earlier served as secretary to CM Pinarayi Vijayan, was also accused of leaking confidential information to the other accused

The Customs department on Thursday filed a fresh charge-sheet against six persons, including Kerala Indian Administrative Services officer M Sivasankar, in connection with the dollar smuggling case.

Sivasankar, who earlier served as secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, was also accused of leaking confidential information to the other accused.

The IAS officer, who is now serving as principal secretary in the sports and youth department, was arraigned as the sixth accused.

Former employees of the United Arab Emirates consulate Swapna Suresh, Sarith P S and Khaled Mohamed Ali Shoukry, along with Unitac construction firm managing director Santosh Eapen, and gold smuggling accused Sandeep are the others accused in the dollar smuggling case.

The customs’ case pertained to the alleged kickback given by Unitac to Sivasankar for awarding housing project work that was funded by UAE Red Crescent.

While Rs 1 crore in cash was recovered from a bank locker, registered in Suresh’s name, it was considered to be the kickback received by Sivasankar. It was also alleged that Shoukry, an Egyptian national, allegedly helped in smuggling $190,000 out of the country.

According to the customs’ charge-sheet, Sivasankar was aware of the smuggling activities being carried out by the co-accused. He also helped Unitac in getting the contract for the Red Crescent-funded construction project.

Sivasankar was earlier charge-sheeted by the Enforcement Director also on charges of money laundering.