Thiruvananthapuram: A letter purportedly written by the Additional Chief Secretary, Local Self Government Department, to the then LIFE Mission CEO, directing him to attend a meeting presided over by the Chief Minister to ink a pact with the Red Crescent in the controversial Wadakkanchery Life Mission Housing scheme, has now come out.
The letter asked the LIFE Mission CEO U V Jose to take part in the meeting held on the evening of July 11, 2019, with a team of officials of the UAE-based Red Crescent Authority. It further sought measures to implement the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with Red Crescent.
Red Crescent evinced interest in constructing the housing complex and they would directly execute the project. A meeting between Red Crescent’s representatives and the Chief Minister was convened in this connection, the letter read. It further asked Jose to attend the parleys in his capacity as the LIFE Mission CEO and also sign the MoU.
Earlier, a similar note by U V Jose too had come out, in which the official revealed he signed the MoU on the basis of a letter from the Chief Secretary level.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has directed the Life Mission to produce all documents connected with the controversial project before it.
The Chief Minister’s former Principal Secretary, M Sivasankar, the fifth accused in the Life Mission scam case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), was arrested recently. The ED said in the chargesheet that Sivasankar got Rs 1 crore as a bribe.
The project was for constructing 140 flats using Rs 14.50 crore out of the Rs 18.50 crore allotted by Red Crescent through the UAE Consulate. The contract was to construct a health centre using the remaining amount.
The project contractor Unitac MD Santosh Eapen had revealed that a bribe of Rs 4.48 crore was handed over to Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in the gold smuggling through diplomatic channel case, and others. The Vigilance was ordered to examine the contract between Life Mission and Red Crescent, how Unitac became a part of the contract, how much money changed hands as commission, and the role of the gold smuggling accused in the contract, among other things.