The Enforcement Directorate has arrested the first accused and Managing Partner of M/s Unitac Builders & Developers and M/s Sane Ventures LLP, in the case of the alleged violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulations) Act in the Life Mission housing project.
The ED had earlier arrested M Sivasankar, former Principal Secretary of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in connection with the case. The court today extended the judicial custody of Sivasankar till April 4.
Meanwhile, the interrogation of U V Jose, former CEO of Life Mission project — in connection with the case is underway at the ED office here. Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had investigated the case.
The CBI had in 2020 filed an FIR in a Kochi court under Section 120B (Punishment of criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 35 of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) on a complaint by then Wadakkanchery MLA and Congress leader Anil Akkara, listing Eappen as the first accused and the company Sane Ventures as the second accused.
The two companies, Unitac Builders and Sane Ventures, had undertaken the construction based on the agreement entered into with Red Crescent, an international humanitarian movement, that had agreed to provide Rs 20 crore for the Life Mission project.
The Congress has been alleging that there was corruption involved in the selection of the contractor by Red Crescent.
The alleged FCRA violation and corruption in the project had snowballed into a major political issue at the time with opposition parties charging that Swapna Suresh, prime accused in gold smuggling case had admitted before an National Investigation Agency (NIA) court that she had received Rs 1 crore as commission from the project. She had reportedly claimed that the money was meant for Sivasankar.
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