Jaya's gold and diamond jewellery will go from Karnataka treasury to Tamil Nadu
BENGALURU: Gold and diamond jewellery worth Rs 6 crore, silver articles worth Rs 20 lakh, 2,140 sarees, 750 pairs of footwear and 91 wristwatches worth over Rs 15 lakh that is lying in the Karnataka state treasury will revert to the Tamil Nadu government, after the Supreme Court directed that the Rs 100 crore fine for disproportionate assets on the deceased former CM J Jayalalitha will be recovered from her properties.
Karnataka has been awarded Rs 5 crore of this Rs 100 crore as its due for bearing the legal costs of the Jayalalithaa trial, along with her aides Sasikala, Sudhakaran and Elavarasi. The fine of Rs 10 crore each on the latter three is also to be recovered from cash deposits and seized property belonging them, the judgement says.
“We are not aware of exactly what has been deposited with us in the treasury as only the court officers will keep track of it. We will release the deposits after the court officers come and sign for them,” Karnataka’s director of treasuries, C Jyothi, told ET. The officer said that so far, no information had come to the treasury about releasing Jayalalithaa’s assets held in Karnataka to Tamil Nadu.
“The Supreme Court judgement is very clear. The gold and jewellery can be either sold to RBI or SBI or in public auction, if there is a shortfall in payment of the fine imposed on Jayalalithaa. Anything over and above this will go to the Tamil Nadu government along with her other immovable assets,” a senior officer said, adding that the process of recovering and restoring the assets was bound to take a little time Jayalalithaa’s assets were seized in an income tax raid in 1996, which recovered 44 airconditioners, besides the sarees, jewellery, footwear and watches. The then Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy filed a disproportionate assets case based on this evidence that finally led to her conviction, along with Sasikala and her relatives Sudhakaran and Elavarasi.
When the case was transferred to Karnataka in 2002, at the behest of DMK general secretary K Anbazhagan, the seized assets were brought to Karnataka and deposited in the state treasury, legal department sources said. Anbazhagan even got the trial court to check on the storage of the silver items held in the Karnataka treasury a couple of years later.
Karnataka has been awarded Rs 5 crore of this Rs 100 crore as its due for bearing the legal costs of the Jayalalithaa trial, along with her aides Sasikala, Sudhakaran and Elavarasi. The fine of Rs 10 crore each on the latter three is also to be recovered from cash deposits and seized property belonging them, the judgement says.
“We are not aware of exactly what has been deposited with us in the treasury as only the court officers will keep track of it. We will release the deposits after the court officers come and sign for them,” Karnataka’s director of treasuries, C Jyothi, told ET. The officer said that so far, no information had come to the treasury about releasing Jayalalithaa’s assets held in Karnataka to Tamil Nadu.
“The Supreme Court judgement is very clear. The gold and jewellery can be either sold to RBI or SBI or in public auction, if there is a shortfall in payment of the fine imposed on Jayalalithaa. Anything over and above this will go to the Tamil Nadu government along with her other immovable assets,” a senior officer said, adding that the process of recovering and restoring the assets was bound to take a little time Jayalalithaa’s assets were seized in an income tax raid in 1996, which recovered 44 airconditioners, besides the sarees, jewellery, footwear and watches. The then Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy filed a disproportionate assets case based on this evidence that finally led to her conviction, along with Sasikala and her relatives Sudhakaran and Elavarasi.
When the case was transferred to Karnataka in 2002, at the behest of DMK general secretary K Anbazhagan, the seized assets were brought to Karnataka and deposited in the state treasury, legal department sources said. Anbazhagan even got the trial court to check on the storage of the silver items held in the Karnataka treasury a couple of years later.
