DMK moves Madras HC seeking SIT probe into corruption complaint against TN minister S P Velumani

CHENNAI: Armed with over 1,000 pages of documents to prove alleged corruption in awarding government contracts by local administration minister S P Velumani, the DMK has approached the Madras high court seeking constitution of a special investigation team to probe it.
DMK's organising secretary R S Bharathi has moved the plea alleging that the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) is unwilling to impartially and fully investigate his complaint against Velumani, which he filed on September 10.

"Due to mala fides and the Tamil Nadu chief minister and ministers who supervise the DVAC are themselves under the scrutiny of the agency and, therefore, have every incentive to stall and defeat any investigation, it is very imperative to prevent abuse of process of law and secure the ends of justice, that this court itself decide the composition of the special investigation team and monitor the investigation of this complaint," the petitioner said.

According to the petitioner, Velumani has abused his official position and exercised his personal influence as a minister to obtain contracts for KCP Engineers Pvt Ltd, P Senthil & Co, Vardhan Infrastructure, Constronics India, Aalayam Foundation Pvt Ltd, Constromall Goods Pvt Ltd, Invicta Meditek Ltd - all owned by his relatives and benamis resulting in misappropriation of public funds and accumulation of disproportionate assets.

Alleging that certain aspects of the contracts awarded to such firms deserved to be investigated, he said, "The aspects are -- contracts were awarded to these companies despite no past expertise in the area (KCP Engineers Pvt Ltd and Vardhan Infrastructure), companies undertaking contracts involving activities not authorised by their memorandum of association (KCP Engineers Pvt Ltd), contracts with unduly favourable terms causing loss to the public exchequer (KCP Engineers Pvt Ltd, in a contract with the Coimbatore Corporation involving Rs 38,50,000 for removing hyacinth weeds, managed to negotiate a clause levying only Rs 50 as daily penalty), contracts where closing dates were arbitrarily extended only to enable the participation of the companies of benamis of Velumani (contract for multi-level parking by Chennai Corporation), contracts (at least five by Chennai Corporation in 2017-18) where other bidders were rejected on the technical ground of not submitting proper documents without examining the bid price and contracts (at least five by Chennai Corporation in 2016-18) where only companies of benamis of Velumani participated and more than one of them was accepted at different quotes without negotiating a standard price for all contractors."

Pointing out that the funds of Chennai and Coimbatore corporations were siphoned off in a similar method, the petitioner said, "The Chennai Corporation had a surplus of Rs 942 crore in 2012. By 2013, it decreased to Rs 566 crore. After Velumani took over as minister, Chennai Corporation’s surplus funds have depleted, and the civic body has now taken a loan of Rs 2,500 crore. The Chennai Corporation is a debt-ridden body, chiefly due to the maladministration of Velumani."

Similarly, bank deposits held in the name of the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation was Rs 72.51 crore in 2015-16, which came down to just Rs 4.91 crore in 2016-17 and has now become literally Rs 0 for the past two years, he added.

Velumani, his benamis and public servants who colluded with them are liable to be prosecuted and punished under the law including under the Income Tax Act, Companies Act, Indian Penal Code, Prohibition of Benami Transactions Act, Prevention of Money Laundering Act and Prevention of Corruption Act, according to the petitioner.

The plea, moved on Monday, is likely to be heard by the court on Wednesday.