THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: All the three agencies are intensifying their probe into the LIFE Mission case in which a commission of Rs 4.5 crore was swindled under the guise of building houses for the poor. The probe comes in the wake of allegations that the Chief Minister smuggled currency during his visit to Dubai.

While the CBI is probing financial aid from foreign countries and bribery, and the Enforcement Directorate is probing black money transactions behind the construction of the flat. The Vigilance is looking into bribery involving government officials. The government even went to the Supreme Court to oust the CBI but to no avail. The Supreme Court has directed the CBI to continue its probe. The CBI will soon question M Sivasankar and Swapna Suresh. It has already prepared the questionnaire.

The plan was to build 140 apartments and a 6000 sq ft hospital for the homeless in Wadakkancherry. The CBI found that the bribe paid by the construction company was divided among the top officials and others. The CBI told the apex court that the construction company, Unitac, was a benami company used by the government to receive foreign aid and that only a part of the foreign aid regulation violation had been detected and that there was an underworld deal aimed at laundering black money.

Unitac MD Santosh Eepan has told the CBI that Rs 4.48 crore was paid as commission. According to the CBI, Unitac was used for bribery by overtaking the CAG Audit and the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act. It also said that the construction could not have been done through tender alone if 10 million Dirham had been credited to Life Mission's account. The money was paid as bribes to gold smugglers and high-ranking government officials. The CBI pointed out that the fact that Life Mission officials had sent an e-mail to Sarith, the accused in the gold smuggling case, was proof of this.

Black money case

The ED has made Santosh Eepan the first accused in the black money transaction in LIFE. It was found that Santosh had bought dollars from the black market for Rs 3.80 crore out of a commission of Rs 4.48 crore and gave the dollars to high ranking officials.

Vigilance case

The vigilance has named M Sivasankar, Swapna and Sandeep as accused in the bribery case. One crore rupees seized from Swapna's bank locker was found to be a bribe in the LIFE scheme.