[Kerala Gold Smuggling Case] Kerala High Court grants bail to former Kerala CMO bureaucrat M Sivasankar in ED case

The Kerala High Court has granted bail to M Sivasankar, suspended Principal Secretary to the Kerala Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan (M Sivasankar v. Union of India)..A Bench of Justice Ashok Menon allowed him bail today. .The former Principal Secretary approached the Kerala High Court for bail in the case filed against him by the Enforcement Directorate. Sivasankar is being investigated for his role in the smuggling of gold through diplomatic channels..There is no doubt about the complicity of the applicant and there are no reasonable grounds to believe that he is not guilty...Kerala High Court observed.Earlier today, he was granted bail by default in respect of an investigation against him by the Customs Department for the same matter. The bail was granted after the Custom Department failed to file a chargesheet in time..The charge against him in relation to the Gold smuggling incident are "delightfully vague" and not specific as to dates and facts, M Sivasankar, had told the Kerala High Court during the hearing..Red herrings being bandied about: Jaideep Gupta rubbishes linking of Sivasankar to LIFE Mission kickbacks in Kerala High Court bail hearing.On the other hand, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the ED, had vehemently opposed a grant of bail to Sivasankar, stating that the bureaucrat is powerful and could influence witnesses. Any grant of bail would hamper the progress of the investigation, he had submitted."This is not a simple case, a high dignitary who is in a position to influence witnesses, in a position to tamper with witnesses, he has the power and wherewithal to influence witnesses, he has not cooperated with the investigation... therefore my lord should not exercise discretion at this stage of investigation, or our investigation will be hampered...", the ASG had argued..In the bail order, Justice Menon opines that there is no doubt about the complicity of the applicant from the material at hand, but proceeds to allow him bail on other grounds.He states that that that the prosecution had not been able to adequately prove that the bureaucrat held an account with other gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh which held kickbacks from the Kerala LIFE Mission project, as was vehemently asserted by the ED.Since without the amount in the account the amount in question fell below the threshold stated in Section 45 of the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, the Court stated that he could be granted bail.The Court also considered the illnesses the bureaucrat was going through while deciding upon a grant of bail.."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 said..On these terms, the bail application was disposed..Read the Order: