The Enforcement Directorate on Friday questioned a Kerala minister in connection with the gold smuggling case after it emerged that he had contacted one of the key accused over Ramazan gifts that the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram distributed among people through him this year.
That the ED had questioned K.T. Jaleel, the higher education and minorities’ welfare, waqf and Haj minister, emerged only late in the evening as the leader had dodged media attention by travelling the last 13km to the agency’s Kochi office in a friend’s car after getting off his official vehicle at Aroor.
The ED said Jaleel, a CPM-backed Independent, had been questioned in connection with the Ramazan gifts that the UAE consulate distributed among the poor through him.
The consulate is at the centre of a controversy after 30kg of smuggled gold from the UAE and meant for an employee was seized at Thiruvananthapuram international airport.
Although the ED did not reveal the specifics, sources said that Jaleel had contacted Swapna Suresh, a key accused in the gold smuggling case, over the distribution of the gifts — food packets and copies of the Quran. The sources also claimed that Jaleel had flouted rules by accepting the items directly — ministers have to route gifts worth over Rs 5,000 through the external affairs ministry and they cannot deal directly with a foreign diplomatic mission. The 1,000 food kits are estimated to cost Rs 5 lakh.
Jaleel had earlier said he had distributed the food packets among the needy in the Edappal and Thriprangode panchayat areas of Malappuram. On contacting Swapna, the minister had claimed that the UAE consul-general had put him in touch with her to handle the Ramazan gifts. Swapna is a former employee of the consulate.
The gifts, however, were eventually arranged through a government agency and the bill sent to the consulate.
The customs department had also said that the air cargo in which the copies of the Quran came had appeared to weigh more than what the number of copies specified would.
The Opposition Congress has demanded Jaleel’s resignation.
