New Delhi: The Central government on Monday refused to give details of Kerala gold smuggling case in Lok Sabha, saying that it may not be in the larger public interest. However, it also informed that one of the prime accused was influential but the government is taking effective steps for a fair investigation into the matter.
The Center had given its written reply to the questions asked by Kerala MPs Anto Antony, NK Premachandran and Dean Kuriakose regarding the Gold Smuggling case.
"During July 2020, the Office of the Commissioner of Customs (Preventive) informed the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of the suspicion of gold consignment in diplomatic baggage. Following the due procedure, MEA provided clearance to the Customs authorities to intercept the consignment containing gold which was addressed to a diplomat of Consulate General of UAE in Thiruvananthapuram," replied Minister of State for Finance, Anurag Thakur.
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A question was being asked from the Minister of Finance to share the details of gold seized from various airports including Kerala airport and the number of people booked during the same period along with the value/price involved therein.
The Minister informed that the Department of Customs had seized more than 30 kg of gold and arrested 16 people, booked under the case of Customs Law.
While mentioning that one of the prime accused was influential, he stated in his reply, "Government is taking effective steps for fair and proper investigation. Disclosure of further details of cases may not be in the larger public interest as the same may impact the cases."
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has even initiated investigations for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in two gold smuggling cases related to Kerala and also taken up given cases under the provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 across the country.
Giving further details over the gold seized in the previous years, the reply stated that 2,452 kg gold was seized in 2015-16 from 2,696 cases, 921 kg in 2016-17 from 1,453 cases, 1,996 kg in 2017-18 from 2,911 cases, 2,946 kg in 2018-19 from 4,855 cases, 2,629 kg from 2019-20 from 4,444 cases and 103 kg till now in the year 2020 from 196 cases.
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