Kerala court denies bail to CM Pinarayi Vijayan's former Principal Secretary M Sivasankar in Life Mission case

A Kerala court on Thursday refused to grant bail to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's former Principal Secretary M Sivasankar who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the probe into the LIFE Mission case..The LIFE (Livelihood, Inclusion and Financial Empowerment) Mission is a housing security scheme of the Kerala government which intends to provide houses to all the landless and homeless residents of the State.The case involves one specific project under this scheme which is alleged to have been funded by a foreign entity in violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). The issue is also being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)..Today, a Special Court to try offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), dismissed Sivasankar's bail application.Sivasankar was represented by advocates John S Ralph, Manu Srinath, Vishnu Chandran, Ralph R John, Giridhar Krishna Kumar, Geethu TA, and Apoorva Ramkumar..The LIFE Mission project ran into trouble in 2020 after Anil Akkara, then MLA for Wadakkanchery in Thrissur district filed a complaint stating that it violated FCRA norms. His specific complaint was against the project in his constituency of Wadakkanchery.For the project, the State government had agreed to allot land to building contractors chosen by the donors. The project at Wadakkanchery was funded by the UAE consulate’s Red Crescent.Akkara claimed that the Kerala government obtained funds for Unitac builders (which was chosen as contractor) from Red Crescent, thereby, violating the FCRA.The CBI proceeded to file an FIR pursuant to the complaint, naming Unitac’s Santhosh Eappen, Sane Ventures (another contractor), and “unnamed officials of the LIFE Mission project”.There were charges that the LIFE Mission project was awarded to Eappen and Sane venture at the behest of former UAE Consulate employee and gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh working with Sivasankar, who was then the Principal Secretary to the Kerala Chief Minister’s Office.Shortly after the CBI’s FIR, the LIFE Mission CEO approached the Kerala High Court seeking quashing of the investigation. Close on the heels of the LIFE Mission plea, Eappen also filed a writ petition praying that the investigation against him and his company be quashed.The High Court dismissed the pleas in January 2021, effectively allowing the CBI probe to continue..The LIFE Mission case and the 2020 Kerala gold smuggling case, which involve alleged smuggling of several kilograms of gold from UAE to India through diplomatic channels, have certain common players including Sivasankar, Swapna Suresh, and Sarith PS.The allegations of Sivasankar's involvement in the LIFE Mission scam also came about during the intial stages of the investigation into the gold smuggling case.In late 2020 Sivansankar was arrested in connection with the gold smuggling case of the ED as well as the Customs Department. After he was granted default bail in the Customs case on January 25, 2021, the Kerala High Court granted him bail in the ED case.