Former Tamil Nadu minister in spotlight for bribery charges of Rs 27.9 crore

CHENNAI: Anti-corruption NGO Arappor Iyakkam has unveiled corruption allegations against former housing minister and present AIADMK deputy coordinator R Vaithilingam, saying he received 27.9 crore from a private construction firm for issuing them building approval.
The alleged offence pertains to Vaithilingam’s tenure as minister in AIADMK regime between 2011 and 2016.
Arappor convenor Jayaram Venkatesan, in his complaint to the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) on Saturday, named the minister and Shriram Properties and Infrastructure private limited, now known as Gateway office parks private limited, which obtained sanction of plan for high rise buildings at Perungalathur in Chennai outskirts. When contacted, Vaithilingam told TOI that the information was false. “Whatever they (Arappor Iyakkam) say is wrong. I will get to know the full details and respond (to the charges) later,” he said. Vaithilingam is now an MLA representing Orathanadu constituency.
A spokesperson from Shriram private limited told TOI that the company did not wish to comment on the issue.
Jayaram Venkatesan told reports that on December 2, 2013 the firm had applied for building plan approval with CMDA for constructing 24 blocks of residential and IT units. The application was approved only on December 24, 2016, as per CMDA records, he said.
The NGO, through revenue and IT records in public domain, found that during 2015-16 a firm — Bharat Coal Chemical Limited, part of Shriram groups — transferred the sum as an unsecured loan to a company named Muthammal Estates Private Limited, a firm owned by the then minister’s son V Prabu.
The unsecured loan has been a liability till 2020, the last year when documents were filed with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the NGO stated. It further questioned how Bharat Coal, a firm dealing with metal and chemical manufacturing, whose assets of 130 crore were hypothecated in 2014, gave an unsecured loan to a company, in a completely different line of business. Soon after receiving the funds, the Estates bought land in Pappakurichi Village in Trichy with survey number 262/1 and 262/2 with an advance of 18 crore in 2015-16 itself.
Further, the NGO stated, Bharat Coal has not recovered its loan so far and has filed bankruptcy in 2019-20. It said the Muthammal Estates too had no prior experience in their domain and their revenue operations were zero, as per IT records, throughout.
They concluded this gives prima facie evidence that the private firm had transferred funds to the minister’s son’s firm, only for building approval permission. The NGO has urged the DVAC to pull up all the CMDA officials as part of the approval and file an FIR against the ex-minister and others.