How gold smuggling accused helped Kerala's prestigious IT project

SmartCity Kochi, a much-hyped IT infrastructure project at Kochi in Kerala with majority investment by UAE's Dubai Holding's affiliate firm, seems to have come out of a stalemate in 2017 following the intervention of gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh.

In his statement to the Customs as part of the gold smuggling case probe, Kerala Chief Minister's former principal secretary M Sivasankar said that Swapna, who earlier served as secretary to UAE consul general, made an effective intervention in resolving a stalemate over the SmartCity Kochi project.

It may be recalled that in 2017, the SmartCity Kochi project, with 84 per cent shares by Dubai Holding's affiliate entity and 16 per cent by Kerala government, reportedly faced uncertainty owing to organisational restructuring in Dubai Holdings. Tecom Investments, a subsidiary of Dubai Holdings, was initially holding the 84 percent shares. There were reports that following the restructuring of Dubai Holdings, Tecom Investments was being abolished and its shares with SmartCity Kochi was transferred to Dubai Holdings and Dubai Holdings may pull out from the SmartCity Kochi project owing to inordinate delay in commissioning.

However, the issues were later sorted out in further talks between the Kerala government and Dubai Holdings and the current Left-front government in Kerala is highlighting the commissioning of the first phase of the project as a major achievement.

In his statement given to Customs, a copy of which was accessed by DH, Sivasankar said that he had interacted with Swapna seeking the intervention of the UAE government in resolving the stalemate in the Smart City project. This intervention was sort of effective in bringing Dubai Holdings to the negotiation table. In view of this, he was encouraged to explore possibilities for creating opportunities in UAE for Kerala based start-ups and IT companies and interacted with Swapna frequently, Sivasankar said while mentioning about

how he developed an acquaintance with Swapna.