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Former Tamil Nadu minister, aides booked in fresh DA case
The directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption (DVAC) has registered a fresh disproportionate assets case on Tuesday against AIADMK MLA and former municipal administration minister S P Velumani
The directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption (DVAC) has registered a fresh disproportionate assets case on Tuesday against AIADMK MLA and former municipal administration minister S P Velumani.
According to the first information report (FIR), Velumani and his family amassed ₹ 58.2 crore wealth, disproportionate to the known sources of income, which constitutes 3928% of his total income.
Searches were carried out in the second case of disproportionate assets against Velumani in 59 places across Tamil Nadu.The DVAC sleuths conducted raids in six districts, including Coimbatore, Chennai, Salem, Namakkal, Krishnagiri and Tirupathur.
After the day-long searches, a DVAC official aware of the developments said that it was found that Velumani had made investments worth ₹ 34 lakh in various crypto currencies. They also found 11kg gold, about 118.5kg silver, unaccounted cash of ₹84 lakh and other incriminating documents.
This is not the first incidence of a minister investing in crypto currencies as previously DVAC had found about education minister Anbazhagan’s investments in crypto currencies.
Several mobile phones, locker keys of several banks, laptop and computer hard discs among other things were also seized during the raids, said the official.
Based on the nomination affidavits filed by Velumani in April 2016 and March 2021 ahead of the assembly elections, and information received from credible sources, the DVAC said it arrived at the quantum of disproportionate assets the minister possessed.
The FIR has named 13 accused, including the minister in the case.The agency suspects that Velumani channelised his “ill-gotten money” to various other companies in the name of other accused and their relatives who acted as partners/shareholders/ directors. As per the FIR, he has acquired several disproportionate assets in the name of his relatives and associates in and around Tamil Nadu.
The former municipal administration minister’s foreign trips have also come under the scanner. Coimbatore-based Velumani, they found, had travelled to Singapore on three occasions in 2019 and stayed there for 14 days. He had also travelled once to Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, United Kingdom and Maldives during his tenure as a minister and had stayed there for a total number of 32 days. Velumani’s wife Vidya Devi and their children Vikash and Sarangi had also gone on several foreign trips — individually as well as jointly — visiting Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, UAE, Singapore, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Australia and Maldives .They had stayed in these places for a total of about 130 days.
Since the DVAC’s verification had disclosed that the illegal pecuniary resources of Velumani were converted into legal money through the firms in the name of his relatives and associates, the agency said in its FIR, “a similar scenario in the accumulation of assets by A-l (accused no.1 Velumani) might have happened in foreign countries also, as the foreign trips undertaken by A-l and his family members are numerous.”
A “discreet verification” disclosed that in May 2019, Velumani had “spent lavishly with pomp and style” for a family function in Coimbatore.
The agency has charged Velumani of indulging in “criminal conspiracy” with three other accused A-2, A-4, A-5 (P Anbaran, RChandrasekar, K Chandraprakash) for the “purpose of cheating and committing criminal misappropriation of public money amounting to several crores of rupees of the government of Tamil Nadu and abuse of his official position.
As per the FIR, Velumani and Chandrasekarwere running a “syndicate” with respect to tender contracts. Chandrasekar and Chandraprakash are major shareholders of KCP Engineers Private Ltd which received several injudicious work orders for the tenders applied.
The DVAC noted that Velumani allowed Chandrasekar to direct and dictate the municipal corporation officials while awarding tenders. “A-4 had acted like a personal assistant to A-l, who had allowed A-4 to execute all the matters on his behalf in Chennai and Coimbatore,” the FIR read.
Velumani was previously booked by the DVAC last year in August for illegally allotting tenders worth ₹464.02 crore for Greater Chennai Corporation and ₹ 346.81 crore from Coimbatore Corporation, to his relatives misusing his official powers when he was the minister.
Velumani is one of the AIADMK’s heavyweights and close to former chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami. Velumani’s clout grew so much in recent years that locally he was even dubbed as the ‘Coimbatore chief minister’. The AIADMK’s joint coordinator Palaniswami and coordinator O Panneerselvam released a joint statement condemning the raids. “It’s the DMK’s political vendetta,” they said.
“We had promised in our election manifesto that we will establish a separate court to try people for corruption. The DVAC is doing its job and the AIADMK is paying for its actions,” said a DMK leader, pleading anonymity.
After the DMK came to power, the DVAC filed cases of disproportionate assets against four other former AIADMK ministers – K P Anbazhagan (education), C Vijayabhaskar (health),M R Vijayabhaskar (transport) and P Thangamani (electricity).
