Kerala Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan denies nexus with gold smuggling racket

Kerala Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan's office on Wednesday termed the allegations regarding his nexus with the gold and dollar smuggling racket 'baseless'.

After the gold smuggling case accused and former employees of the UAE consulate in Kerala, Swapna Suresh and Sarith P S, recently deposed before the Customs that some higher authorities were involved in smuggling activities, a court in Kochi stated that the revelation regarding the involvement of some 'big sharks' was shocking.

Thereafter, a section of the media reported that it was a person holding a constitutional post that was involved in the smuggling case with BJP Kerala state president K Surendran stating on Tuesday that foreign trips of the speaker were also suspicious.

It was in this context that the speaker's office came out with a denial note on Wednesday stating that Sreeramakrishnan had neither traveled abroad with the gold smuggling accused nor had any meetings with them abroad. All the foreign trips were carried out by informing the respective embassies and all details regarding the foreign trips were already made public. Most trips were based on invitations from various organisations. In addition to that, family trips to meet relatives were also carried out. It was very unfortunate that a constitutional body was being dragged into a row based on baseless assumptions, said that statement.

Sreeramakrishnan was on the defensive in the past as well when a video of him inaugurating an automobile service centre of one of the gold smuggling accused had surfaced.

Key accused Swapna Suresh was also at the event and the speaker had clarified that Swapna, who was known to him as an official of the consulate, had invited him to the function.