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Anti-graft wing raids TN IAS officer’s home

By, Chennai
Jun 07, 2023 12:54 AM IST

Senior IAS officer S Malarvizhi, accused of swindling public funds, had her residence in Chennai raided by officers of the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption (DVAC). An FIR was filed against the officer for printing receipts worth ?1.8 crore through private printers at exorbitant prices and high quantity, during the period she was district collector of Dharmapuri from February 2018 to October 2020. Malarvizhi is accused of misappropriating ?1.3 crore in the matter. Two private printers who ran printing operations are also accused in the FIR.

Officers of the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption (DVAC) on Tuesday conducted a raid at the residence of IAS officer S Malarvizhi in Chennai. The senior IAS officer is accused of swindling public funds by printing tax receipt books through private printers at exorbitant prices and high quantity which could last another 15 years. Malarvizhi is currently vice-chairperson of Science City in Chennai.

The residence of Tamil Nadu IAS officer was raided in connection with a money laundering case. (DVAC website)
The residence of Tamil Nadu IAS officer was raided in connection with a money laundering case. (DVAC website)

The charge pertains to the period when she was the district collector of Dharmapuri from February 2018 to October 2020 during the previous AIADMK regime in Tamil Nadu.

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An FIR was filed against the IAS officer on June 5 under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 on the charge of printing receipts total of 125,500 receipt books (of house tax, professional tax, water tax and miscellaneous tax) worth 1.8 crore which were supplied to 251 Panchayats. The DVAC has accused her of misappropriating 1.3 crore in the matter.

“This is the first time in the last 15 years in Tamil Nadu an IAS officer has been named in a corruption case,” says Jayaram Venkatesan, founder of anti-corruption movement, Arappor Iyakkam in Chennai. “The key here is the nexus between politicians and IAS officers which allows such irregularities and corruption at multiple levels so this FIR is a welcome move to begin to start cracking down on that.”

While the IAS officer has been named as accused number 1 (A1), two individuals (Thageer Hussain, Proprietor of Crescent Traders and Veeraiah Palanivelu, Proprietor, Naga Traders) who ran printing operations privately are named as the other two accused (A2, A3).

There is “no documentary proof” to the IAS officer’s claim during a review meeting in Dharmapuri November 2019 that she had received an instruction from the director of rural development and panchayat raj to purchase these tax books from private institutions, the DVAC has found.

The public servant entered into a “criminal conspiracy” with A-2 and A-3 with the “dishonest intention to commit fraud on the funds of the government’’ by voluntarily procuring the 125,500 numbers of tax receipts to the tune of 18,197,500, the DVAC’s FIR states. “It is further gathered that all the village Panchayats were supplied with the receipt books purchased from A-2 and A-3,” the agency says, adding that the violations came to light during the collection of sources.

In February 2020, A2 supplied 61,000 tax receipt books while A3 supplied the remaining 64,500 books to various panchayats unions in Dharmapuri district. “But no work orders were issued to them by A-1,” the FIR says. “A-1 had sanctioned 18,197,500 and paid the net amount of 17,469,600 to A-2 and A-3 after deducting 727,900 towards GST and IT.”

When compared to the rates of Dharmapuri district printers service industrial co-op society ltd, the rates paid to the duo are “absolutely exorbitant”, the agency said. And they were paid (by four cheques in two instalments) from the funds allocated to panchayat unions for three months from January to March in 2020 under the state finance commission.

“A-1 being a public servant had performed her official functions improperly or dishonestly in anticipation of or in consequences of accepting undue advantages from A-2 and A-3 and also, she being entrusted with the funds of the government, dishonestly/fraudulently misappropriated a sum of 13,177,500 and converted for her own use with their active connivance,” the DVAC said.

The cost of printing one book in government societies is 40 while the IAS paid 135 per book to the printers, says Venkatesh. “That’s more than three times the cost leaving the exchequer at a loss of 1.3 crore to A2 and A3. How this money has come back to the IAS officer and how much has come back will be known only after they investigate more,” the activist said.

There is a government order in place since 1991 to make purchases from the Dharmapuri district printers service society which has been operating with the share capital of the Tamil Nadu government. DVAC states that all the books and receipts are being purchased from here to be distributed to all panchayat unions and government offices “with good quality and at low costs” across Tamil Nadu.

“…no rule permits A-1 to enter into these types of transactions from private firms,” the DVAC said. “It would arise only in case of any inconvenience happening in procuring the books from the government co-op printing press..” This too is subject to announcing an open tender under Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders, Act 1998. “A-1 has thrown away all the procedures,”DVAC said. “She had arbitrarily issued such proceedings at her own with the dishonest intention to commit fraud on the government funds with the close connivance of A-2 and A-3 under the pretext of such vague and baseless reasons.”

The agency also found that the quantity of the books purchased can be used for another 15 years but they would become low in quality due to natural decay. “In one of the panchayats, only one or maximum two miscellaneous tax books are used in one year but she has supplied books which will last them more than 50 years at one go,” Jayaram points out.

The IAS officer’s mobile phone was switched off when HT tried to contact her. The DVAC also conducted searches parallelly against P Krishnan, former block development officer of Pennagaram panchayat union in Dharmapuri in the case. “The complicity of the larger conspiracy hatched by A-1 with A-2 and A-3 and the involvement of other officials in having fleeced the government money can be unearthed only through a deeper probe by scrutinising the relevant documents and examining the witnesses,” the DVAC said.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Divya Chandrababu is an award-winning political and human rights journalist based in Chennai, India. Divya is presently Assistant Editor of the Hindustan Times where she covers Tamil Nadu & Puducherry. She started her career as a broadcast journalist at NDTV-Hindu where she anchored and wrote prime time news bulletins. Later, she covered politics, development, mental health, child and disability rights for The Times of India. Divya has been a journalism fellow for several programs including the Asia Journalism Fellowship at Singapore and the KAS Media Asia- The Caravan for narrative journalism. Divya has a master's in politics and international studies from the University of Warwick, UK. As an independent journalist Divya has written for Indian and foreign publications on domestic and international affairs.

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