THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After recording his statement, Customs has let off K Ayyappan, the assistant private secretary to the speaker, in connection with the dollar smuggling case. K Ayyappan was interrogated for nine hours at the Customs Preventive Office in Kochi. Ayyappan has been summoned seeking details of the statement made by Swapna Suresh against Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan. However, it is reported that Ayyappan will not be called for further questioning.

Ayyappan had evaded the notice twice when he was summoned for questioning. The final reply was that it should be postponed for the time being as the assembly session was about to begin. The Assembly Secretary himself had written to Customs questioning the action to question Ayyappan. Customs, however, rejected the Assembly Secretary's claim that the Speaker's Assistant Private Secretary had legal protection, and replied to the Assembly Secretary with strong criticism that the Assembly Act was not meant to protect criminals. After this, Ayyappan appeared before the customs on Friday.