THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The chartered accountant gave a statement against M Sivasankar, former principal secretary to the chief minister. Chartered accountant Venugopal Iyer in his statement to the enforcement said Sivasankar brought Swapna Suresh, accused in the gold smuggling case, to his office and introduced her to him and then directed to open a joint locker.

In the meantime, Sivasankar in his statement said that he just introduced her to him and had not asked to open a joint locker. However, Iyer said that Sivasankar was in his office till the end of the talks with Swapna.

‘Talked to Swapna for hours in the presence of Sivasankar. An amount of Rs 40 lakh was first deposited in the joint account. Later Swapna withdrew the amount at different times. Then asked to close the account,’ he said.

Meantime, Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court will pronounce the verdict on Swapna Suresh’s bail plea in the case taken by the enforcement directorate in the gold smuggling case.