Published 20:08 IST, December 17th 2020
Kerala gold smuggling: HC dismisses CM Raveendran's plea seeking stay on ED summons
Two days before his summons CM Raveendran had moved the Kerala High Court seeking a stay on the ED summons claiming "ill health."
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In a big setback to Kerala Chief Minister's additional private secretary CM Raveendran, the Kerala High Court on Thursday dismissed his petition challenging the multiple summons issued to him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Raveendran had approached the court after he was summoned in the PMLA case linked to the Kerala Gold smuggling scam.
Two days before his summons, Raveendran had moved the Kerala High Court seeking a stay on the ED summons claiming "ill health." In his petition, the CM's additional private secretary stated that he had not fully recovered from his illness and he was worried that he might be apprehended by the ED for "long hours."
"The petitioner also apprehends that he would be coerced and compelled to make statements which are untrue and against his will," the plea had said.
In addition to this, he had also asked the court to issue a direction to allow him to have a legal representative of his choice if he had to comply with the summons. Going a step further, Raveendran had also asked the court to issue a direction to ED to prevent any possibility of his detention during interrogation. The Kerala HC dismissed all pleas in his petition.
He had been asked to appear before the financial watchdog on December 17. Notably, this was the fourth time ED had summoned Raveendran in the case, with the official evading every single time citing "hospitalization."
What is the Kerala Gold Smuggling scam?
On July 5, Customs officials seized 30 kg of gold worth Rs.15 crore at the Thiruvananthapuram Airport from a diplomatic cargo addressed to a person in the UAE Consulate. Sarith Kumar, who worked at the UAE Consulate was arrested in this regard. Reportedly, he told the Customs about the role of Swapna Suresh, an ex-consulate employee who was appointed by Sivasankar as a manager in KSITIL. Following the backlash over her appointment, she was sacked by the state government.
On July 16, Vijayan announced that the suspension of his former Principal Secretary M Sivasankar pending a departmental inquiry. The case is currently being probed by the ED, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Customs Department. The NIA has alleged that the smuggled gold was not used for jewellery purposes but for funding terror activities.
(With Agency Inputs)
20:08 IST, December 17th 2020