Swapna Suresh the prime accused in Kerala Gold smuggling case, statement against Speaker P Sriramakrishnan is out. According to her statement submitted following ED’s plea in the High Court, the speaker had plans to start an educational institution abroad. She said that during the visit of the ruler of Sharjah to Thiruvananthapuram, Sriramakrishnan had requested a meeting be arranged between them. The meeting was held at The Leela Palace, Kovalam, and during the meet, the Ruler of Sharjah is said to have orally agreed to provide free land for the construction of a branch of Middle East College in Sharjah.
Middle East College is supposedly a project by “Sivasankar, Lafeer, Kiran (Dean of Middle East College) and Sreeramakrishnan. Swapna says that the speaker had told her that he had visited Sharjah and had met higher officials for the requirement of the promised land. When asked by the ED if the speaker had any other vested interest in the Middle East, Swapna is said to have replied that he had investments in the Middle East, Oman and that he wanted to spread his wings further. According to Swapna, Sreeramakrishnan also said that she would be the ideal person to manage his projects in the Middle East.
Asked about a conversation between Swapna and Sivasankar, she replied that the latter was talking about ICT Academy, Technopark. She said that according to Sivasankar, Kiran and Lafeer had agreed to partner in a branch of the ICT to be set up in Oman and that Sivasankar had wanted her to close the deal with Kiran.
Meanwhile, the statement of Sarith the other accused in the gold and dollar smuggling case, is also out. He claims that he met the Speaker around January or February 2020 at a flat in Thiruvananthapuram and that the latter had supposedly handed him money in a bag with the Kerala Loka Sabha Emblem. Sarith is said to have been directed to hand the bag marked 'SRK', which had 10 bundle of notes over to the Consulate General of UAE. According to Sarith, the speaker said that the money was a gift to the Consulate General. Swapna is said to have accompanied Sarith to meet him. Custom Officials have supposedly retrieved the empty 'SRK' bag from Sarith's residence during a raid, earlier.
