Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate questioned K. Ayyappan, assistant private secretary (PS) to Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan, for nearly nine hours on Friday in connection with its probe into the foreign currency smuggling case.
Mr. Ayyappan, who reached the office of the Customs here around 10 a.m, was let off by 7 p.m. The interrogation of the Speaker’s personal staff member had provided ammunition to the Opposition at the start of the Budget session of the Assembly in the morning.
Even though the officials remained tight-lipped on the outcome of the interrogation, it is learnt that the Customs was pursuing the statements given by the drivers of the Consul General and admin attache' at the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.
The former finance head of the consulate had come under the scanner of the agency for the alleged smuggling of U.S. dollars out of the country. Swapna Suresh and P.S. Sarith, the key accused in the case, had given statements related to the involvement of the diplomatic officials in dollar smuggling.
Mr. Ayyappan had failed to turn up before the Customs twice while saying initially that he had not received a notice from the Customs. In the second instance, he claimed to be busy with the preparatory works for the Assembly session. S.V. Unnikrishnan Nair, secretary, Legislature Secretariat, had informed the Customs that the agency needed Speaker’s permission to question his personal staff member.
Mr. Sreeramakrishnan had pointed out that a legal process, civil or criminal, cannot be served within the precincts of the Assembly without obtaining the Speaker’s permission. The Customs had responded by stating that the rules were incorporated to protect the majesty of the legislature and not shield the guilty or to cover up information being revealed to a competent legal authority.
