KOCHI: The investigations into the gold and dollar smuggling cases have slowed down due to various reasons. Many of the arrested accused were released on bail as the investigating agencies were unable to investigate quickly and find strong evidence. Recently, Chief Minister's former principal secretary M Sivasankar was released on bail. It must be noted that the investigating agencies had mainly relied on the statements of the accused. Things got to the point where the court told the investigating agencies to bring in evidence other than statements. However, the agencies have failed to produce any strong evidence in the cases.

Lack of coordination in the investigation is considered to be a major reason for this. The investigation faced serious setbacks at several stages due to this lack of coordination. The inability to extradite the main accused, Faisal Fareed and Khalid Mohammad Ali Shoukri, also affected the investigation.

The statements of Swapna Suresh and P.S. Sarith, the accused in both the cases, were recorded several times by the NIA, Customs and ED.
Meanwhile, Swapna and Sarith made secret statements before the magistrate as per Rule 164 while they were in the custody of the Customs in connection with the dollar smuggling case. This proved to be a huge blow for both NIA and ED as the accused gave contradictory statements to the magistrate and the central agencies.