The Preventive Wing of the Cochin Customs will serve show-cause notices to former UAE Consulate General Jamal al-Zabi and Attaché Rashid Khamis Ali shortly in the diplomatic channel gold smuggling case.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) permitted the Customs to serve notices to the duo, who had left the country soon after the gold seizure case was booked.
The notices will have to be served through the UAE Ambassador in India considering the diplomatic ties and the friendly relationship between the two countries.
Significant step
The permission to serve the notice is considered as a significant step in the investigation of the case as the earlier attempts of the investigation agency to record their statements did not succeed. The show-cause notice was prepared based on the statements of the accused in the case, the documents that were seized and other evidences gathered during the investigation.
The duo may have to do the explaining as gold was found smuggled in the diplomatic baggages that were addressed to them, sources said.
The Customs had seized gold worth ₹14.5 crore from the diplomatic baggage addressed to the Consulate General that reached the Thiruvananthapuram airport on June 30 last year.
Political constroversy
The investigation and the subsequent arrest of the accused, including Swapna Suresh, P.S. Sarith and Sandeep Nair, had snowballed into a political controversy with the Opposition parties alleging the involvement of some top bureaucrats in the Chief Minister’s Office.
The government found itself in a bind after the accused revealed the name of M. Sivasankar, the former Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister.
The National Investigation Agency and the Enforcement Directorate had also booked cases following the revelations made by the accused.
