Govt to terminate PwC’s consultancy for Space Park

Thiruvananthapuram: State government decided to terminate the consultancy service of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for the proposed Space Park project in Thiruvananthapuram. Sources said Kerala State IT infrastructure Ltd (KSITL) has already served a notice to PwC, which is the first step of termination of contract.
The appointment of Swapna Suresh – who is the third accused in the gold smuggling case – as operations manager for the Space Park project was done through PwC. Though PwC sub-contracted the resource from a vendor, Vision Technologies, the government is of the view of that onus of recruiting Swapna was on PwC.
“When the project was conceived, PwC was assigned as a consultant. PwC was asked to provide a qualified resource for the existing opening. The department allowed her to work based on the verification reports submitted by the consultants. Now, it has come to our notice that the candidate submitted forged documents to secure the job. There is failure on part of the consultants to ensure that a proper candidate is recruited,” said a senior official in IT department. It is learnt that the chief minister has directed officials to initiate steps to terminate the consultancy. After completing procedural formalities, PwC will be asked to go, said sources.
Meanwhile, opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala on Tuesday demanded a CBI probe into the appointment of Swapna Suresh in the strategic project. Chennithala wrote a letter to PM Modi, urging him to look into the matter and order a CBI probe.
Chennithala said Swapna’s immense clout in the CMO helped her fetch a plum post in project which is a joint venture project of the government and VSSC. Referring to the space conclave organized by the government on July 31 and Feb 1, Chennithala said the government had entrusted Swapna with the coordination of the conclave.
“Speculation is rife that Swapna Suresh, masquerading as an official of the government, could have used this as the opportunity to establish relationship with top scientists within and outside the country. It is shocking that a lady who is now the second accused in the anti-national smuggling case with criminal antecedents and facing allegations has been chosen as the programme coordinator for an event involving top space scientists in the country,” Ramesh wrote in his letter.