LIFE Mission Scam case: CM Raveendran will not appear before ED for questioning

Kochi (Kerala) [India], February 27 (ANI): CM Raveendran, the additional private secretary to the Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, will not appear Monday before the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in connection with the LIFE Mission Scam case. The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday (February 23) had issued notice to Raveendran in the LIFE Mission Scam case. It is learnt he informed the ED that he can’t appear today as the legislative assembly session is underway at Thiruvananthapuram.

According to the notice issued earlier, he shall appear before the ED officials at its Kochi office on February 27 at 10 am. A Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Court on Friday sent M Sivasankar, former Principal Secretary to the Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan to judicial custody till March 8 in the LIFE Mission Scam case.

On February 16, the remand report submitted by ED in the PMLA Court against M Sivasankar, former principal secretary to the Kerala CMO in the LIFE Mission Scam Case, revealed some WhatsApp chats between him and other accused Swapna Suresh. The remand report alleged that there is a larger nexus involving government representatives in the allocation of contracts and the generation of proceeds of crime via the upfront commission as a bribe.

“In his WhatsApp message sent to Swapna on July 31, 2019, Sivasankar warned Swapna to be very careful and asked to take care. In his WhatsApp message, Sivasankar told Swapna not to get involved and warned her that if something goes wrong, they would put blame on her. He also told Swapna to keep away from the process to which Swapna replied that she would give it to Sarith and Khalid (other suspects in the case). Sivasankar also told Swapna that CM had asked him to get a job for Swapna,” the remand report had read.

The report further said that the material evidence such as the WhatsApp conversation between Swapna Suresh and Sivasankar and the statement given by Suresh, it is clearly indicating that there is a larger nexus involving government representatives in the allocation of contracts and generation of proceeds of crime via the upfront commission as a bribe.