Kochi: Kerala’s cash strapped Left government has allocated Rs 15.50 lakh to Kapil Sibal to fight ED’s plea to shift diplomatic channel gold smuggling case from Kerala to Karnataka in the Supreme Court, media reports said.
The remuneration to Sibal is for appearing on behalf of Kerala in the Supreme Court on May 7 challenging the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) prayer seeking to shift the case to the neighbouring state of Karnataka, the reports said.
It was Sibal who had appeared for Kerala against the centre’s restriction imposed on the state to borrowing funds more than that permitted for it to meet the state’s expenses.
A total of Rs 90.50 lakh has already been paid to Sibal in this case.
With Sibal getting a total of Rs 31 lakh in the gold smuggling case, the total remuneration to be received by Sibal goes up to Rs 1.21 crore.
The ED had moved the Apex Court in October 2022 accusing Kerala government of trying to derail the case as the state Chief Minister faced allegations in the case.
The ED claimed that there were allegations against the Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary, Chief Minister, his family members, former state minister, and former Assembly Speaker.
The suspects Swapna Suresh, and Sandeep Nair had accused Kerala Police of persuading them to dilute the case.
On July 5, 2020, 30 kilograms of gold worth Rs 14.82 crores was seized at Thiruvananthapuram Airport from a diplomatic bag meant to be delivered to the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.
M Sivasankar was suspended and removed from the post after a preliminary inquiry confirmed that he had links with suspect Swapna Suresh, accused in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe.
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