Enforcement Directorate is probing CAE under Prevention of Money Laundering Act
Kochi:
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today seized over 30 kg of gold seized from the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport last year, leading to an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and two former employees of the UAE Consulate in Kerala. Including high profile celebrities were arrested. .
The directorate also attached Rs 14 lakh belonging to former employees of the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram, Sarith PS and Swapna Suresh in a case known as the Kerala Gold Smuggling Case.
In a statement, the Enforcement Directorate said that it has provisionally attached 30.245 kg of gold belonging to Abubakar Pazedath, Abdul Hameed PM, Jalal AM, Rabins K Hameed, Abdu PT, Mohammed Shafi, Hamzad Ali K, PT, worth 14. ,82,00,010 is Rs. Rs 14,98,000 in cash of Ahmedkutty, Hamzad Abdul Salam, Shajal, Mohammed Shamir, Razal and Ansil and SHO of Sarit police station Swapna Suresh in Kerala gold smuggling case.
The Enforcement Directorate has initiated an investigation under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Sarath PS, Swapna Suresh, Faisal Farid, Sandeep Nair on the basis of the National Investigation Agency’s FIR filed before the Special Court for National Investigation Agency cases. Of. , and under the Other Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
The Customs Commissionerate (Preventive), Cochin had registered a case related to the seizure of 30.245 kg of 24 carat gold worth Rs 14.82 crore at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport.
According to the Vienna Convention, the gold was concealed in the UAE consulate as diplomatic baggage, giving it immunity against security checks at the airport.
The Enforcement Directorate said the consignment was to be received by Sarit PS, the first accused in the case, who had previously worked as a public relations officer in the UAE Consulate in connivance with Swapna Prabha Suresh, Sandeep Nair and others. Sarath PS, Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair were formally arrested by the directorate on July 22, 2020.
Another accused M Sivashankar, IAS officer and then Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was also arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency on October 28, 2020.
The Enforcement Directorate said that during investigation under the PMLA, it was revealed that the accused persons had received proceeds of crime by the commission of a scheduled offense in the form of 30.245 kg of smuggled gold, valued at Rs 14,82. 00,010 (fourteen crore eighty two lakh ten rupees only).
“The accused/suspects illegally remitted the proceeds of the sale of previously smuggled gold to Dubai, which was further used to purchase the next consignment of gold to be smuggled into India and the process was recycled throughout the operation. and the proceeds of the offense so generated, smuggling of gold, were earlier used to purchase the said 30.245 kg of gold.”
It was further learned that Sarit PS and Swapna Suresh had received proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 14.98 lakh by the Scheduled Crime Commission.
“Whereas the accused persons possessing/concealing/using such proceeds of offense in the form of 30.245 kg of gold valuing Rs.14,82,00,010 and cash of Rs.14,98,000, the provisionally attached . Further investigation is in progress,” the Enforcement Directorate added.
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