The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has attached movable/ immovable properties worth Rs. 5.38 Crore in the LIFE Mission Scam case.
The properties attached includes residential property held in the name of Santhosh Eappen and immovable property and bank balances held in the name of Smt. Swapna Suresh.
The ED initiated investigation on the basis of FIRs registered by CBI, ACB, Cochin and VACB, Thiruvananthapuram under various sections of IPC, FCRA and Prevention of Corruption Act against M/s Unitac, M/s Sane Ventures and others for alleged pecuniary advantage obtained from the Life Mission Project.
ED investigation revealed that a conspiracy was hatched by Sarith P.S and Smt Swapna Suresh, the then UAE Consulate employees with active support of M. Sivasankar, then Pr. Secretary to the Chief Minister and Sandeep Nair and others to generate commission as bribe from the funds donated by Red Crescent by awarding the LIFE Mission project to M/s Unitac Builders and Developers and M/s Sane Ventures LLP run by Santhosh Eappen without following the transparency norms.
From the funds received from UAE Red Crescent for Life Mission project which was meant for the provision of residential homes to the helpless flood victims of Kerala, Santhosh Eappen had arranged an upfront commission as bribe totally amounting to Rs.4.40 Crore for UAE Consulate Officials and certain Kerala Government officials by withdrawing money from the bank accounts of the companies of Santhosh Eappen out of which USD worth 1,90,000/- was illegally exported by Khaled Ahmed Ali Shoukry, former Finance Head of UAE Consulate Trivandrum. Sandeep Nair, Yedu Sundran were also found to be involved in the offense of money laundering by generating POC including its possession and acquisition of the same.
Further investigation is under progress by the ED.
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