A major haul of smuggled gold in Kerala has sparked a dazzling round of political bickering, with the office of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan under fire from opposition leaders.
What is the controversy?
The customs department personnel at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport on July 6, 2020, seized over 30 kg of gold that landed in "diplomatic baggage" by air cargo. The seizure of gold worth Rs 15 crore, addressed to the UAE consulate in Kerala, is the biggest of its kind in the state.
Who are the players?
According to the customs, Swapna Suresh and Sarith Kumar, two former staff members of the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram are behind this. Following the gold seizure, the state IT department terminated the service of 39-year-old Swapna Suresh who was working as an operations manager with the Kerala State IT Infrastructure Ltd and Space Park, prestigious projects of the state. "She was into a six-month contract which ended already. However, she was continuing due to the lockdown," said the IT department. Swapna was an executive secretary at the consulate while Sarith was a PRO there.
Why is it shaking up Kerala politics?
Swapna and Sarith have close links with M Sivasankar, a 1995 Kerala cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer. Sivasankar was secretary to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and principal secretary of the IT department. The CM holds the IT portfolio. While on the post of secretary to government, power department, Sivasankar was appointed the chairman of Kerala State Electricity Board. The officer who has been pushed out of the posts, is now on a six-month leave from Tuesday, a day after the dismissal of Swapna.
What made customs curious?
Though they had received a tip-off, the customs officials waited for a member of the UAE consulate to receive the baggage from the airport. The baggage lacked a sticker mandatory for diplomatic baggage. Sarith Kumar reached the airport to collect the bag and officials inspected his id to realise that it was fake. Then the UAE consular agent was called to open the bag which was addressed to his wife. On opening it, they found gold concealed in tubes as sanitary fittings. However, due to diplomatic immunity, the Indian authorities cannot detain or arrest the UAE official and his wife, even though the correspondence of the diplomatic bag was reportedly between the two.
What is diplomatic baggage?
As per the Customs Preventive Manual and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the authorities cannot open a diplomatic or consular bag. Even if the customs officials at the receiving state have a genuine reason to believe that the bag contains something contraband, they may request that the bag be opened in the presence of diplomatic or authorities of the sending state. Diplomatic bags can contain articles “for official use of the Mission or personal use of a Consular agent or members of his family forming a part of his household”. Under various sections of the UN Conference on Consular Relations, members of the family of a diplomatic agent, if they are not nationals of the receiving state, shall enjoy the privileges and immunity allowed to diplomats.
What is the BJP saying?
The BJP reacted to this first and its state president K Surendran alleged that the gold smuggling racket has links with the office of the chief minister. "The first call, as the smugglers were taken into custody by the customs, was from the chief minister's office. Swapna Suresh has close contacts with M Sivasankar, the principal secretary to the chief minister, who is also the IT secretary," he said. The BJP leader wondered how a person like Swapna, who was kicked out of the UAE consulate, could join the chief minister's office in a key post. "The state special branch had informed the CM about her background as she was questioned by the crime branch for forging documents in a case against an Air India official. However, he rejected all these," he said.
What is the Congress saying?
The UDF is demanding the resignation of CM Pinarayi Vijayan. "In a high-profile gold smuggling case, CMO got involved to save accused Swapna Suresh. CM's secretary was asked to step down due to his links with her. CMO shared closed relations with her. Yesterday, CM said the government did not appoint Swapna Suresh. She was paid more than Rs 1.50 lakh as salary and given a plum post. How can anyone believe she was appointed without the knowledge of IT and CMO's top brass?" asked Ramesh Chennithala, Leader of Opposition.
What is Pinarayi Vijayan saying?
He stated that the woman has no connection with the chief minister's office or IT department. "How can this new gold smuggling case in anyway be related to the state government? The parcel did not come to any of the state government agencies. The parcel came for the UAE consulate. If there is any failure, how can the state government be responsible? The state government has no role in it," he said.
Regarding the ouster of Sivasankar from his posts , Vijayan said: "Sivasankar was removed from CM's principal secretary post after there were allegations raised against him in public. But there is no legal case against him. Can UDF think of such an action? This woman was working as a marketing manager for a project under the IT department as a contract employee. She was taken through a placement agency. It was a normal procedure followed and I am not aware if she was taken under any recommendation," he said.
What is the UAE saying?
The UAE authorities have launched an investigation to find out who sent the cargo containing gold to the address of the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram. The authorities have stressed that the culprits who not only committed a major crime but also sought to tarnish the reputation of the UAE mission in India will not be spared. We remain committed to cooperating with Indian authorities in getting to the root of the crime.
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