Kochi: Diplomatic gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh has alleged that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena was the ‘masterbrain’ behind the Sprinkler scam. Swapna told reporters that Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary had told her this.
She said that she had visited Chief Minister’s official residence on a number of times during 2016 to 2020.
Swapna alleged that what Pinarayi had said in the assembly was misleading and unethical. She challenged the government to release the CCTV footage of the Cliff House and secretariat of this period. She claimed that she had arranged secret meetings between the Chief Minister and Consul General after 7 pm and that had visited Cliff House alone.
There was breach of protocol while meeting UAE Consul General on many occasions, she said.
The meetings were arranged by her without the clearance of the Ministry of External Affairs through the Chief Minister’s point of contact M Sivasankar, who was Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary. She asked who sent former journalist Saj Kiran to persuade her to withdraw her statement against the Chief Minister and family.
She asked why the Vigilance head was removed from his post? What was his interest in the case? she asked.
Shivshankar had introduced Saj Kiran to Swapna Suresh before the smuggling case surfaced in 2020.
