Locker and one crore put Sivasankar in trouble

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It was Sivasankar's idea to hide the bribe he received in the Life project in Swapna's bank locker that landed him in trouble. The ED has confirmed that the Rs 1 crore seized from Swapna's locker was the bribe received by Sivasankar from the construction company Unitac. The agency is now jointly questioning Sivasankar and Venugopal Iyer, a chartered accountant and friend of Sivasankar.

According to sources, Venugopal has revealed that Sivasankar came to his house with money and asked him to keep it in a locker. Meanwhile, Sivasankar is reportedly not cooperating with the interrogation. Venugopal revealed that he had opened a locker in a joint account with Swapna on the instructions of Sivasankar to keep the 1 crore that Sivasankar received as a bribe. He also said that it was Sivasankar who brought Swapna to his office and introduced her.

Rs 30 lakhs was initially deposited into the joint account. Later, Swapna withdrew this money in several stages. When asked to close the account, Swapna said that she had some gold ornaments in the locker. Venugopal also revealed that he bought the key to the locker from Swapna on Sivashankar's instructions after more money reached the locker. The lockers were at SBI City Branch near the Secretariat and Federal Bank Statue Branch. Now, the ED has to ascertain how many crores made it to the locker.

According to ED, there was a conspiracy under the leadership of Sivasankar to bring e the donation of one crore dirhams to build houses and hospitals for the flood victims to private contractors. After the Red Crescent signed an MoU with the state government, private companies were allowed to enter into contracts with the UAE Consul General. This was a ploy to receive bribery by avoiding the CAG audit. It was Khalid, the accountant of the consulate, who brought the Rs 1 crore for Sivasankar.