Kerala gold smuggling: Was offered Rs 30 crore to give up evidence against Kerala CM, says Swapna Suresh

Swapna Suresh, one of the prime accused in the Kerala gold smuggling case, claimed that she was offered Rs 30 crores in exchange for keeping Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan's name out of the case.

"I got an anonymous phone call from a person called Vijay Pillai. He came for a settlement talk. He asked me to leave Bengaluru. CPM party secretary Govindan Master had told him to threaten me and leave the place. They asked me to stop speaking about Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter and businessman Yussaf Ali. They offered me Rs 30 crores," Swapna was quoted saying by ANI.

"They want me to go to Haryana or Jaipur. They said all assistance would be given, including a flat. They will arrange for her to leave the country once the fake passports are ready," Swapna Suresh said.

"Vijay Pillai threatened me and asked me to leave the country. I have no personal agenda with CM Pinarayi Vijayan or his family nor want to destruct his political career. I was clearly told that CPM secretary Govindan Master will finish my life. This person told me that he will give me 2 days to take a decision. I have sent details of his phone number and email address to my advocate. He (Vijay Pillai) clearly told me that Govindan Master will finish my life. I will give the full details such as photographs of the person to the media. I am not going to run away from Bengaluru. Please pray for my life," Suresh further added.

What is Kerala gold smuggling scam

The CBI had in 2020 filed an FIR in a Kochi court under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code and Section 35 of FCRA on a complaint by the then Wadakkanchery Congress MLA, Anil Akkara, listing Santosh Eappen, Managing Director of Unitac Builder, Kochi as the first accused and Sane Ventures as the second accused.

The two companies had undertaken the construction based on the agreement entered with them by Red Crescent, an international humanitarian movement, which had agreed to provide Rs 20 crore towards 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 Suresh had admitted before an 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.

However, the Life Mission CEO had submitted before the court that Unitac and Sane Ventures had undertaken the construction based on the agreement entered into with them by Red Crescent and had directly accepted foreign contributions from Red Crescent, which is a foreign agency.

The CEO had also contended that the companies which signed an agreement with Red Crescent do not come under the categories of persons prohibited from receiving any foreign contribution as per Section 3 of FCRA.