Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate has asked Vinodhini Balakrishnan, wife of former CPI(M) State Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, to appear before it on March 10 in connection with the probe into the foreign currency smuggling case involving officials of the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.
The agency will question her based on the inference that she was using one of the expensive mobile phones handed over by Santhosh Eapen, Managing Director of Unitac Builders to Swapna Suresh, the second accused in the high-profile diplomatic baggage gold smuggling case, as bribe.
He had earlier filed a statement before the Kerala High Court that five expensive phones were given along with 4.8 crore as commission to bag the UAE consulate’s contract to construct 140 dwellings in Thrissur via the government’s Life Mission programme to provide free housing for the poor. The UAE Red Crescent had offered to underwrite the project through the country’s diplomatic mission in Thiruvananthapuram….