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Kerala High Court on Friday said that no Prevention of Corruption Act was involved in the LIFE Mission Scam Case and posted the bail plea of accused M Sivasankar, former Principal Secretary to the Kerala CMO in the case before the "appropriate bench".
Kerala High Court's single bench has ordered to post the bail plea of M Sivasankar filed by him before the court earlier. Single Bench of Justice Kauser Edappagath observed that "no" Prevention of Corruption Act was involved in this case. "This is under sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA Act). Hence, post the matter before the appropriate Bench," the bench said. Earlier the Special PMLA Court dismissed the bail plea of Sivasankar. In the bail plea before the High Court, Sivasankar termed his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in February as a "political stunt". "The arrest is a political stunt. There is no direct allegation against the petitioner. The entire case was a political hit job by the Enforcement Directorate using the professional privity the petitioner had with the Chief Minister of Kerala. Neither the petitioner nor the State Government had played any role in the selection of Unitac Builders and Developers run by Santhosh Eapen for the execution of the LIFE Mission work," the plea stated. It further said that the "predicate offence" registered by the CBI over corruption allegations does not even name the petitioner as an accused. "The approach was taken by the Special Court to rely upon documents furnished by the ED in three sets of sealed covers," it added. A Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Wednesday extended the judicial custody of M Sivasankar till March 21 in the case. Officials of the Enforcement Directorate arrested him on February 14. His arrest is the first in the case, pertaining to the state government's LIFE Mission project, which intended to provide homes to the poor who lost their houses in the floods of 2018. The housing project was proposed at Vaddakanchery in the Thrissur district. The project intended to build houses for 140 families in Vadakkanchery by spending Rs 14.50 crore out of Rs 18.50 crore granted by the Red Crescent via the UAE consulate. The contract noted the construction of a health care centre using the remaining amount. The ED claimed that Sivasankar (60) and others made undue monetary gains in the form of kickbacks in awarding the contract to construct the houses under the LIFE Mission scheme. On February 16, the remand report submitted by ED in the PMLA Court against M Sivasankar, former principal secretary to the Kerala CMO in the LIFE Mission Scam Case, revealed some WhatsApp chats between him and another accused Swapna Suresh. (ANI
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