HC rejects LDF’s plea in ’20 gold smuggling case
Kerala High Court dismisses LDF government's appeal against a stay on an inquiry into alleged ED coercion in a gold smuggling case.
A division bench of the Kerala high court on Friday dismissed the LDF government’s appeal against a single-judge interim order in 2021 staying an inquiry commission probing alleged coercion by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a 2020 gold smuggling case.
The LDF government had set up a Commission of Inquiry in 2021 to probe whether the ED was coercing the accused in the case, Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair, to implicate political leaders in the state in the gold smuggling case. The commission was formed in the backdrop of an alleged audio clip by Suresh and a letter written by Nair alleging coercion by ED officials.
The gold smuggling case is related to the seizure of nearly 30 kilograms of gold worth ₹14.82 crore from a “diplomatic baggage” meant for the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram at the city’s airport on July 6, 2020. The NIA and the ED registered cases based on charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act respectively.
Suresh, an ex-employee of the consulate and then working as a consultant under the state government, was booked as one of the key accused. M Sivasankar, then principal secretary to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, was also booked in the case and later suspended from the government.
On Friday, the division bench of justices Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Syam Kumar VM ruled that the single judge had not committed any error in entertaining the writ petition filed by the ED against the state-appointed inquiry commission and staying its functioning.
“The learned single judge took into consideration the fact that in the light of the notification, continuation of the Commission would run parallel to and interfere with criminal investigations and prosecutions pending before the Special Court under section 44 of the PMLA 2002 and permitting the Commission at this stage to inquire into such matters would prejudice the accused, derail the course of justice and is impermissible under the settled law that a Commission of Inquiry is only a fact-finding body without adjudicatory powers,” the HC division bench order read.
“The writ appeal, being bereft of merit and substance, is hereby dismissed,” it said.
In 2021, the single judge had ruled that the question of alleged conspiracy by central agencies like the ED is one to be examined by the special court supervising the investigation in the case.
In the gold smuggling case, the ED in 2022 filed a plea seeking the transfer of the trial from Kerala to Karnataka, claiming that a “free and fair trial” was not possible in Kerala.
In April this year, the Supreme Court issued notices to four accused in the case on the ED’s plea. In June 2023, the agency filed its third charge sheet in the case, so far booking Suresh, Nair, Sivasankar, Sarith PS and Ramees KT, the alleged kingpin.
