Former Principal Secretary of Kerala CM Sivasankar Gets Bail In Dollar Smuggling case

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Economic Offences) has granted Bail to Former Principal Secretary of Kerala Chief Minister M Sivasankar Gets Bail In Dollar Smuggling case.

On January 25, the Kerala High Court on Monday granted bail to M Sivasankar in the money laundering case registered by Enforcement Directorate in relation to the gold smuggling case.

A single bench of Justice Ashok Menon passed the order.

"There is no doubt about the complicity of the applicant and there are no reasonable grounds to believe that he is not guilty. However, it should also be considered whether there is a likelihood of the applicant committing any offence while on bail. I am afraid that the prosecution has not been able to establish this fact. Going by the allegations made by the ED, the applicant was indulged in laundering of 64 lakhs which was seized from the SBI locker. ₹ There is no indication that the applicant had anything to do with the locker belonging to A2 in Federal Bank. Thus the proviso to Section 45 (1) of the PMLA would operate in view of the fact that the money allegedly laundered is less than rupees one crore. The fact that the applicant is suffering from various illness would also come to his benefit as the proviso to Section 45 exempts a sick person from the rigours of the Section.", the court observed.

Sivasankar came under the cloud of suspicion on account of his connections with the prime accused in the gold smuggling case, Swapna Suresh and P R Sarith. After the reports about gold smuggling surfaced in media, the state government suspended him from service last July for alleged violations of conduct rules.