NEW DELHI: Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, who is appearing for the state government in the gold smuggling case, is getting paid Rs 15.5 lakh for every appearance at the Supreme Court.

The Enforcement Directorate had filed a petition seeking to transfer the trial of the case to Bengaluru. After the petition was considered, Kapil Sibal appeared in the Supreme Court on October 10 on behalf of the state government. Then State Law Secretary V Hari issued an order to transfer Rs 15.5 lakh to Sibal. The order has asked the Advocate General to take further steps to transfer the amount. The Supreme Court will hear the ED’s petition again on November 3 and Kapil Sibal will appear on behalf of the government.

The Assistant Director of ED Kochi Zone has approached the Supreme Court requesting that the trial of the gold smuggling case be transferred to a court outside Kerala. ED claims that if the trial of the case is held in Kerala, there will be sabotage by influencing the witnesses. Swapna Suresh, Sandeep Nair, Sivasankar and Sarith are the persons accused in the case. Meanwhile, M Sivasankar had approached the Supreme Court against the ED plea to transfer the case outside Kerala. Sivashankar requested the court to hear what he had to say before passing the verdict.