THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The enforcement directorate (ED) has stated that an agreement in the name of UAE Consul General was prepared as part of a conspiracy in order to obtain a commission in the name of administrative expenses. The ED also felt that an agreement prepared in the name of a foreign diplomat does not have any validity within the country.

In case of projects seeking foreign financial assistance, the law permits to use 50% of foreign financing for administrative expenses. Keeping this in mind, the agreement was prepared to obtain the commission. If caught during the act, action or prosecution against Consul General will be highly impossible.

This was how Swapna and accomplices managed to obtain the first instalment of Rs 3.2 crore from Red Crescent. According to Unitac MD Santhosh Eapen's statement, this amount was handed over to Egyptian national Khalid who was the finance officer of the consulate. It is also learnt that Rs 75 lakh from the second instalment was transferred to the bank account of Sarith's company. Apart from Swapna, Sarith and Sivasankar, several other officials of the consulate were involved in the conspiracy to obtain Rs 4.25 crore commission.