Kerala CM smuggled foreign currency into UAE’: Customs quotes prime accused in showcause notice

Kerala: An accused in the alleged smuggling of gold through diplomatic cargo meant for the UAE Consulate in Kerala has alleged that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took a packet containing a bundle of currency to the UAE during one of his visits to the Emirates in 2017. The Customs claimed that the statement was made by Consulate’s former staffer P S Sarith, in a deposition in October.

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It was while probing the gold smuggling case that the Customs had, in August 2019, come across alleged illegal export of US $190,000 by the Consulate’s former financial head, Khaled Mohamed Al Shoukry. The Customs has mentioned the claim against Vijayan in show cause notices issued on July 29 to the six persons named in the illegal export of dollars.

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The six including Shoukry, Sarith, Swapna Suresh (then executive secretary at the Consulate), and former principal secretary to Vijayan P Sivasankar have been told to file their reply within 30 days, before the case can be adjudicated on the basis of the evidence on record. Swapna is also an accused in the gold smuggling case. Earlier, CPM leader and former Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan’s name had come up over alleged smuggling of foreign currency.

On Wednesday, Sreeramakrishnan noted that the Customs had not issued any showcase notice to him. “The Customs is convinced with my statement and about my innocence. Otherwise, they would have served a notice to me too.” Sivasankar had been suspended following the gold smuggling allegations.

Separately, the Kerala High Court Wednesday stayed an order by the Vijayan government appointing a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) to look into any “attempt” by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to implicate the CM in the gold smuggling case, saying a parallel inquiry would “derail the investigation”. The Left government had appointed the CoI on May 7. The court stay came on a plea by the ED.

Reacting to reports of Sarith naming Vijayan, the CM’s Office said, “The issue does not require any reaction. It had been debated a lot in the past. The matter is not going to affect us in any manner. The stated show cause notices had been issued last month, but might have been leaked today against the backdrop of the court verdict (the High Court staying the state government’s CoI).” The Customs says in its notices, “During investigation, incriminating evidence of illegal export of foreign currency was unearthed against former Consul General Jamal Husein Al Zaabi, Ali Shoukry.