Life Mission case: ED arrests Pinarayi’s ex- ex-principal secretary, Sivasankar

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday arrested the former principal secretary to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in money laundering case.

M Sivasankar was reportedly summoned for questioning on Tuesday as part of the probe into the state government’s LIFE Mission project.

The senior official was put under arrest for non-cooperation, The Indian Express reported.

“There are some irregularities in the project and many contracts have been found to be dubious. It is for this that Sivasankar’s custodial interrogation is required,” the newspaper quoted an ED official as saying.

The ED is probing the case in the wake of a FIR by CBI that alleged funding by a foreign entity to the project violating the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).

The state argued in the Supreme Court against the case that government projects are exempt from FCRA.

Sivasankar was previously arrested by ED in 2020 for controversial Kerala gold smuggling case.

ED also arrested his alleged close aide Swapna Suresh at the time, who is reportedly behind the gold smuggling through diplomatic baggage.

The UAE Red Crescent, affiliated with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, offered 10 million UAE dirhams for raising houses to victims of floods in the state alongside a setting up a health centre, according to the report.

The UAE Red Crescent Authority and the Government of Kerala entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on July 11, 2019 through the chief executive officer of LIFE Mission, it further said.

As a controversy erupted over the project, CBI registered a case after Congress lawmaker Anil Aikkara lodged a complaint.