MoU between Life Mission and UAE based Red Crescent surfaces; ED looks into document

The State Government’s claim that it was not directly involved in the agreement for the Life Mission project with the UAE based Red Crescent, seem to have fallen apart. The Memorandum of Understanding between the Life Mission and UAE based Red Crescent, to build houses for the homeless, has surfaced this week indicating otherwise.

Thiruvananthapuram:The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been inked between the Kerala government and the UAE-based Red Crescent for the Life Mission housing project and it was handed over to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday.

The MoU says that the state Government is the second party in the memorandum signed with the Red Crescent, for building houses for the homeless in the state. Though the government was named as a party in the project, the contract did not mention the financial auditing.

According to the MoU, Rs 20 crore was estimated towards the Life Mission housing project at Wadakkanchery which includes a housing complex spending Rs 14.5 crore and a hospital for Rs 5.5 crore.

Dr Mohammad Ateeq Al Falahi, UAE Red Crescent Authority General Secretary and Life Mission Chief Executive Officer UV Jose had signed the seven-page MoU on July 11, 2019.

ETV Bharat holds a copy of the MoU. When there were allegations about the Life Mission project apartments, the Government had stated that it is not directly involved in the project.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials had found that Swapna Suresh, a key accused in the case of gold smuggling through diplomatic baggage channel, has acquired a ‘commission’ as a mediator in this project, the document read.

The document indicates that each and every project implemented as per the MoU requires separate and individual agreements too. However, no other agreements were found to have been signed yet.

The Enforcement Directorate officials investigating the case involving Swapna are looking into all the documents.

Reportedly, Leader of Opposition, Ramesh Chennithala had demanded the Government, last week, to reveal the agreement signed between the UAE based Red Crescent with the Life Mission in order to built houses for the homeless in the state.