AIADMK GOVERNMENT (2016 - 2020)5. So far, the DravidaMunnetraKazhagam (“DMK”), through its...

98
1 LARGE SCALE CORRUPTION BY CHIEF MINISTER AND THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF AIADMK GOVERNMENT (2016 - 2020) - Representation by D.M.K.

Transcript of AIADMK GOVERNMENT (2016 - 2020)5. So far, the DravidaMunnetraKazhagam (“DMK”), through its...

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    LARGE SCALE CORRUPTION

    BY

    CHIEF MINISTER

    AND

    THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

    OF

    AIADMK GOVERNMENT

    (2016 - 2020)

    - Representation by D.M.K.

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    INDEX

    S.NO

    CONTENT

    PAGE NO

    1. REPRESENTATION

    4

    2. CORRUPT ACTIVITIES OF HON’BLE CHIEF MINISTER THIRU. EDAPADI K.PALANISAMI

    a) CORRUPTION IN AWARD OF TENDERS TO HIS RELATIVES

    b) CORRUPTION IN FREE PDS RICE SCHEME GIVEN BY THE CENTRAL GOVT

    c) CORRUPTION IN HIGHWAY

    TENDERS d) DISPROPORTIONATE

    ASSETS

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    10

    16

    20

    3. CORRUPT ACTIVITIES OF HON’BLE DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER THIRU. O. PANNEERSELVAM

    a) DISPROPORTIONATE ASSETS

    b) CONFLICT OF INTEREST, QUID PRO QUO

    c) BRIBE PAID BY U.S.

    COMPANY TO EB AND PLANNING PERMISSION ETC.,

    30

    35

    39

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    4. CORRUPT ACTIVITIES OF

    HON’BLE MINISTER FOR MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION THIRU. S. P. VELUMANI a) LARGE SCALE CORRUPTION

    IN ALLOTTING CONTRACTS TO HIS BENAMIES

    b) FIXATION OF LED LAMPS

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    5. CORRUPT ACTIVITIES OF HON’BLE MINISTER FOR ELECTRICITY THIRU. P. THANGAMANI

    a) IMPORT OF COAL

    b) BID QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT (BQR) & INAPPROPRIATE PRICE MANAGEMENT

    c) CONTRACT MANAGEMENT FOR IMPORT OF COAL

    d) IMPORT OF LOW-GRADE COAL

    e) EID PARRY CONTRACT

    f) CORRUPTION IN PURCHASE OF SPARE PARTS - M/s. BHEL (BHARATH HEAVY ELECTRICALS LIMITED)

    g) CORRUPTION IN WIND ENERGY- IBPIL

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    56

    57

    58

    60

    62

    65

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    6. CORRUPT ACTIVITIES OF

    HON’BLE MINISTER FOR FOOD AND CIVIL SUPPLIES THIRU. R. KAMARAJ

    67

    7. CORRUPT ACTIVITIES OF HON’BLE MINISTER FOR HEALTH THIRU. DR. C. VIJAYA BHASKAR

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    8. CORRUPT ACTIVITIES OF HON’BLE MINISTER FOR REVENUE THIRU. R. B. UDHAYAKUMAR

    72

    9. CORRUPT ACTIVITIES OF HON’BLE FISHERIES MINISTER MR.D.JAYAKUMAR

    82

    10. CONCLUSION

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    Date : 22-12-2020.

    To

    Hon’ble Governor, State of Tamil Nadu Governor’s Secretariat, Raj Bhavan, Chennai – 600 022 [email protected]

    Your Excellency,

    Vanakkam.

    Sub: Representation against the Council of Ministers, Government of Tamil Nadu for corruption, abuse of public office and obstruction of justice and other criminal offences

    1. We are sending this representation in light of the continued obstruction of legal proceedings by the Council of Ministers of the Government of Tamil Nadu by influencing the Police Department, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption and the State Vigilance Commission in order to prevent registration of First Information Report (F.I.R) and thereafter, any impartial and fair investigation into allegations of corruption against them.

    2. While doing so, the Council of Ministers, led by the Hon’ble Chief Minister, have continued to exert undue influence on public servants in order to stop them from taking action against organized plunder of the public exchequer. As such, these actions have broken the backbone of the principle of accountability, which is enshrined in the Constitution of India, various statutory enactments,

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    the diktats of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India (notably, in Vineet Narain -vs.- Union of India) and the Hon’ble High Courts.

    3. As your Excellency is the head of the Executive of the State, a constitutional duty is cast upon you to ensure the probity and integrity of the Council of Ministers, upon whose aid and advice the Government of the State is conducted. At present, the police and vigilance authorities and also, the prosecution is directly under the control and supervision of the Council of Ministers, particularly the Hon’ble Chief Minister, to whom all of the heads of the aforementioned departments report.

    4. In summary, these are cogent allegations of serious and cognizable criminal offences, which are being levelled against the members of the Council of Ministers. A bare reading of these allegations would reveal and establish prima facie cases of acts of corruption, accumulation of assets disproportionate to known sources of income and other offences punishable under the Prevention of Corruption Act 2018, unlawfully influencing commercial tenders leading to breach of Transparency in Tenders Rules 2000, misappropriation of public funds, criminal breach of trust as a public servant and other offences under the Indian Penal Code 1860, etc., are detailed in this Representation, for your knowledge and swift action.

    5. So far, the DravidaMunnetraKazhagam (“DMK”), through its Organziation Secretary, Thiru. R.S. Bharathi (Member of Parliament) has filed complaints against seven Ministers namely, Mr. Edapadi K Palanisami, Mr. O.Paneerselvam, Mr. P. Thangamani, Mr. S.P. Velumani, Dr. C. Vijayabhaskar and Mr. R. B. Udhayakumar. Similarly, Mr. Appavu ex-MLA had filed a complaint against Thiru.R. Kamaraj. Furthermore, Mr. S. Sudharsanam MLA and Mr. Tha. Mo. Anbarasan MLA (both, belonging to the DMK) have filed complaints with regard to the corruption in procurement of walkie-talkies and bribes paid by Cognizant Technology Solutions.

    6. In spite of our actions in bringing these allegations along with specific and verifiable details to the information of the law enforcement agencies, there has been little or no progress in terms of registration of FIR or conduct of an independent and reliable investigation. As such, we have reasons to believe that the Council of Ministers is preventing the law from taking its course and that this is a further and more serious criminal act being coordinated under the leadership of Mr. Edapadi K. Palanisami.

    7. Therefore, we submit a compilation of these complaints in the hope that you, as the Head of the Executive, will initiate enquiry, insulate the law enforcement agencies from external influence and establish the rule of law in the State of Tamil Nadu:

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    I. HON’BLE CHIEF MINISTER THIRU. EDAPADI K. PALANISAMI

    A. CORRUPTION IN AWARD OF TENDERS TO HIS RELATIVES

    1. A complaint was given by Thiru. R. S. Bharathi, MP on

    13.06.2018 against the Chief Minister to the Director, Directorate of

    Vigilance and Anti-Corruption. No action was taken by the

    Directorate, forcing Thiru. Bharathi to approach the Hon’ble High

    Court in Crl. OP. No. 20711 of 2018.

    2. The Directorate which did not show any inclination to

    investigate the complaint showed unusual alacrity at the instance of

    the Minister and closed the complaint without registering any First

    Information Report and examining witnesses during the pendency of

    the petition before the Hon’ble High Court.

    3. The Hon’ble High Court allowed the petition filed by Thiru.

    Bharathi and transferred investigation of the complaint to the Central

    Bureau of Investigation. Even while the Minister himself has obtained

    a stay of the Hon’ble High Court’s order from the Hon’ble Supreme

    Court in SLP (Crl.) No. 9548 of 2018, the Directorate of Vigilance and

    Anti-Corruption, at the instance of the Minister, has also been forced

    to file a separate petition in SLP (Crl.) No. 9005 of 2018 in order to

    shield the Minister from liability.

    4. The gist of the allegations in the complaint is as follows:

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    a) Thiru. Edapadi. K. Palanisamy, being a public servant,

    entered into a criminal conspiracy with Chandrakanth Ramalingam,

    P. Subramaniam, P.Nagarrajan, J.Sekar @Sekar Reddy and the

    firms, M/s Ramalingam & Company, SPK an Company Expressway

    Private Limited, and Balaji Toll Ways (Madurai) Private Limited,

    abused his official Position as Chief Minister and Minister for

    Highways and Minor Ports and thereby committed criminal

    misconduct, obtained undue pecuniary advantage for himself and

    thus committed offences punishable under Section 120-B of IPC and

    13(1) (d) r/w 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

    b) Thiru. Palanisami was the Highways Minister during the

    period from 2011 to 2016 when late Selvi. J. Jayalalitha was the

    Chief Minister. As Highways Minister, he had control over the award

    of Government contracts for laying roads under the Highways

    Department.

    c) The above contracts have been awarded to these two firms

    at an inflated rate thereby causing undue pecuniary advantage to

    them only because the two firms are controlled by persons who are

    closely related to Thiru. Palanisami’s son Mithun. The modus, it

    appears is to eliminate and dissuade all eligible contractors from

    participating in the bid by adopting intimidating tactics.

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    S.NO.

    PROJECT

    DETAILS

    CONTRACTORS

    INFORMATION

    ORIGINAL

    PROJECT

    VALUE

    INCREASED

    PROJECT

    VALUE

    1. SH- 37 stretch of highway from Oddan chatram-DharmapuramAvinashipalayam Total kms:- 37-400 to 108-400 stretch 70.20 kms

    M/s Ramalingam & co ownedby one ChandrakanthRamalingam who is related to Shri EdapadiK.Palanisamy through his son Mr.Mithun

    Rs. 713.34 Crores

    Rs. 1515 crores

    2. SH-39 stretch of highway fromThirunelveliSengottai- Kollam Total kms:- 5.000kms to 50.600 kms stretch is 45.64 kms

    Venkatachalapathy Constructions owned by P. Subramaniam who is the direct in law of Shri EdapadiK.PalanisamyApart from Subramaniam the other partner in this firm is one S. Nagarajan who own SPK & Company Expressway Private Ltd.

    Rs.407.6 crores with additional cash grant of Rs. 179.94 Crores

    Rs. 720 crores with additional cash grant of Rs. 180 Crores

    3. Four laning of Madurai ring road

    Shri. Balaji Toll ways private Limited. P. Subramaniam ( in-law of Shri.EdapadiK.Palanisamy)S. Nagarajan (Benami of Palanisamy) J. Sekar @ Sekar Reddy are the directors of this firm.

    Rs. 200 Crores

    Additional Rs. 18.57 crores by a G.O. dated 16.05.2018

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    4. Six laning of Vandalur – Walajabad from 47.000 to 63.800 kms

    SPK & Company Expressway Private Ltd.owned by S. Nagarajan (benami of Edapadi. K. Palanisamy)

    Rs. 200/- crores

    5. Maintainance of all StateHighways roads in Ramanathapuram,Thiruvallur,Krishnagiriand Virudhunagar districts.

    SPK & Company Expressway Private Ltd.owned by S. Nagarajan (benami of Edapadi. K. Palanisamy)the project was subsequently sub-contractedto Venkatachalapathy and Company owned byP. Subramaniam who is the direct in law of Shri EdapadiK.Palanisamy

    Rs. 2000 crores

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    B. CORRUPTION IN FREE PDS RICE SCHEME GIVEN BY THE CENTRAL GOVT

    The Union Government by its policy decision had decided to

    distribute 5kg rice to each beneficiaries under TPDS (AAY & PHH)

    card holders at free of cost for three months from April, May and

    June 2020 as additional allocation of food grains and distribution

    under the PRADHAN MANTRI GARIB KALYAN ANNA YOJANA (in

    short PMGKAY) to each State and UTs. Tamil Nadu state is one

    among them. Accordingly, the Union of India issued order under its

    Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

    Department of Food and Public Distribution in vide ref. No. F.No. 7-

    1/2019 (ii) – BP.III, dated 30.03.2020. The Ministry advised all the

    State and UT governments to lift additional allocation together with

    the monthly allocation under National Food Security Act (in short

    NFSA) within timelines. It is very clearly mentioned that the free rice

    for AAY and PHH – UPDS family card holders/beneficiaries shall be

    distributed 5kg per person to each of the beneficiaries for three

    months (April, May and June 2020). Further the Annexure of the said

    order has given clear details of number of beneficiaries/persons to

    each State and UTs vice for the additional free rice. As per the order

    dated 30.03.2020 of Union of India, the breakup of the number of

    beneficiaries and quantum of the additional free rice 5kg per person

    for our State is hereunder:

    DETAILS OF TAMIL NADU PDS FAMILY CARD HOLDERS

    UNDER PMGKAY

    1. No. of persons in AAY card holders in TN 73, 27,000

    2. No. of persons in PHH card holders in TN 2,84,07,000

    The total No. of beneficiaries per month :3,57,34,000

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    1. Rice 5kg per person of AAY card holders : 36,635.19 MTs

    2. Rice 5kg per person of PHH card holders : 1,42,033.37 MTs

    Total amount of free rice per month : 1,78,668.56 MTs

    2. Accordingly the Union of India allotted additional free rice to

    our State to distribute to (1,78,668.56 X 3 months) 5,36,005.68 MTs

    for 3.57 crores of beneficiaries i.e. 5kg per person to AAY & PHH

    PDS card holder families for three months i.e., April to June 2020.

    3. Our State have issued 3 categories of PDS cards to the 2.08

    cr families. The 3 categories are (1) AAY- Andhyodaya Anna Yojana,

    (2) PHH - Priority Household card and (3) NPHH – Non-Priority

    Household cards. Our State is having policy of distributing rice to all

    3 categories of card holders at free of cost. Hence Government

    decided that the NPHH family PDS card holders also would get the

    same quantum of additional free rice as the AAY & PHH card holders

    in our State for three months. Therefore, it enumerated the NPHH

    UPDS card holds as 85,99,301 in our State.

    4. Consequent to the order of Union of India dated 30.03.2020,

    Co-operation, Food and Consumer Protection Department of our

    State Government issued government order in vide G.O.(Ms).No. 52,

    dated 27.04.2020 agreed to lift the total additional allocation of

    1,78,668.56 Mts free rice and distribute the same to AAY and PHH

    card holders’ each family members to 5kg per member for April to

    June,20. Further the Government decided to purchase and distribute

    additional free rice of 5kg per person to 85,99,302 NPHH-UPDS

    family card holders for three months i.e. 66,271 MTs (per month) @

    Rs.22/- per kg from Food Corporation of India which cost a sum of

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    Rs.146 crores per month and total cost for three months rice comes

    to Rs. 438 cr to total quantum of rice 1,98,813 MTs. Further, it is to

    be noted that the authority expressed its inability to lift additional

    allotted free rice for AAY & PHH card holders and has not yet been

    lifted and distributed, and also not yet purchased the1,98,813 Mts

    additional rice for NPHH card holders as on 27.04.2020.

    5. While it being so, on 22.05.2020, the Hon’ble Minister for

    Food and Civil Supplies Mr. R. Kamaraj issued a press release

    bearing PR No. 359 where he claims that it was his submission to

    the Hon’ble Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public

    Distribution System of Union of India during video conference (no

    date is mentioned when the said video conference was held) that as

    on 22.05.2020 the additional allocation of free rice 5,01,649 MTs

    was lifted out of total 5,36,005 MTs free rice of 5kg per person and

    96.3% of beneficiaries (AAY & PHH UPDS card holders) were

    distributed in the month of April and 85% of beneficiaries were

    distributed for the month of May as on 21.05.2020.

    6. The Hon’ble Minister Mr. R.Kamaraj surreptitiously

    suppressed his statement dated 22.05.2020 that the corruption of

    selling the additional free rice in open market which was allocated

    under the PMGKAY-NFSA scheme to distribute the AAY & PHH card

    holders of Tamil Nadu. Because on 27.04.2020 his department

    pleaded to the Central Government that “as due to short time period

    available for mobilization of this huge stock of rice from the FCI to

    Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation godowns and then from Tamil

    Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation godowns to the respective fair price

    shops. Additional entitlement of rice allotted for April 2020 which

    remains undrawn as per the revised entitlement issued under this

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    Government Order can be drawn by the card holders in the Months

    of May and June 2020 along with revised entitlement.” But within

    about 20 days, he claimed that he lifted free rice of 5,01,649 Mts rice

    and distributed the same to AAY & PHH UPDS card holders totalling

    96.3% of beneficiaries in April and 85% of beneficiaries in May. He

    issued such statement intentionally to coverup his wrongful gain of

    huge money and corruption by selling the said rice in open market.

    The statement of the Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Mr.

    R.Kamaraj in his PR No. 359, dated 22.05.2020 was evidence of

    conspiracy to smuggle and sell the entire additional allocated free

    rice in open market. And in the same statement, he said that

    additional rice for NPHH card holders of 1,98,813 MTs was just

    purchased. He did not mention it was lifted and distributed to the

    beneficiaries of NPHH card holders as on 22.05.2020. Hence, it is

    evident that the additional free rice for NPHH card holders were not

    distributed as on 22.05.2020.

    7. Further the Hon’ble Chief Minister has also common

    intention with ulterior motive of supporting the Hon’ble Minister R.

    Kamaraj to sell free rice and purchased rice in open market to get

    wrongful gain. Hence, to support Mr. R. Kamaraj, on 19.06.2020 the

    Hon’ble Chief Minister issued his press release bearing PR No. 438

    where he mentioned particularly that all NPHH card holders

    (85,99,302 card holders) were distributed free rice of 5kg per person

    for the 3 months. He cleverly omitted to mention that the additional

    free rice of 5kg per person per month for the three months was

    distributed to all AAY & PHH UPDS family card holders. When the

    additional rice of 1,98,813 MTs was not purchased as on 27.04.2020

    and as per statement of Minister R. Kamaraj dated 22.05.2020 he

    said the additional rice was just purchased as on 22.05.2020, but it

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    was not lifted from FCI godowns and not distributed to the NPHH

    beneficiaries as on 22.05.2020. Therefore, the Hon’ble Chief Minister

    and Hon’ble Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Mr. R. Kamaraj had

    jointly and severally sold the free rice and purchased rice for the

    beneficiaries in open market by which they gained wealth illegally.

    8. There is a huge scam and corruption going on by cheating

    the public by the Hon’ble Chief Minister and Minister Mr. R. Kamaraj.

    Enquiries reveal that the Thooththukudi CSCID wing police

    intercepted the PDS rice and found about 2,100kg PDS rice at one

    private rice mill illegally for polishing the same to re-pack as 5kg,

    10kg and 20kg bags in various brands to sell the same in open

    market @ Rs.30/- to Rs.40/- per kg. This rice was directly brought

    from the TNCSC godowns with assistance of TNCSC employees.

    The FIR states that they used to record as if the rice was distributed

    to card holders and then they unloaded the rice in such private rice

    mills from TNCSC godowns. The CSCID wing registered this crime in

    FIR as FIR No. 72 of 2020, dated 13.06.2020 and seized the PDS

    rice along with lorry which smuggled the rice.

    10. The reputed print media ‘Tamil Hindu’ dated 03.07.2020

    published a news article that still rice was not distributed to UPDS

    card holders/beneficiaries and those to whom free rice was not

    distributed, will be given time till 10.07.2020. Further another reputed

    print media in English newspaper Times of India published that

    about 80% of UPDS card holders were not distributed the amount of

    Rs.1000/- which was meant for the month of June 2020 and also

    states the about 6.4 lakhs of families of Chennai have been

    unavailable to distribute dole for the month of June 2020. Therefore,

    the press releases of the Hon’ble Chief Minister and Hon’ble Minister

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    R.Kamaraj are false and it was meant to cover up of selling the

    additional free rice in the open market to swindle the public

    exchequer money by abusing their official position.

    11. This has caused loss of nearly 450 crores of Public

    Exchequer.

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    C. CORRUPTION IN HIGHWAY TENDERS

    1. The Principal Secretary to Government , Highways and Minor

    Ports Department had issued of G.O. Ms No. 40 Highways and Minor

    ports (HQ1) department dated 19/2/2020 and subsequently The

    Superintendent Engineer, Construction and Maintenance, Highways

    Department, Trichy issued a Tender notice bearing Tender notice

    number 37/2019-2020/HDO dated 25/02/2020.

    2. The tender notice dated 25.02.2020 The Superintendent

    Engineer has invited tenders for the subject work for initial

    rectification including widening, strengthening and Improvements and

    Performance Based Maintenance Contract(PBMC) for a period of 60

    months(5 years) in the State Highways and the Major District Roads

    for a length of 462.211 KM in Thanjavur, Orathanadu, Pattukottai and

    Peravoorani, Sub Divisions of Thanjavur [H] C & M, Division. The

    tender notice invites Scheduled Tender under two sealed cover

    system through online only i.e., Pre-Qualification schedule and

    financial cover containing price bid document of tender (Item rate

    tenders). The EMD (Earnest Money Deposit) was fixed at Rs. 582.60

    lakhs and the estimated amount of the tender was fixed at

    Rs.116500.00 lakhs(Rs. 1165 crores).The tender documents were

    made available upto 15.00 hrs on 15/04/2020 and the bids were to

    be submitted through online upto 15.00 hrs on 15/04/2020.

    3. Although what was unusual about this tender was till now road

    laying and maintenance of state and national highways roads have

    been on the basis of annual tenders but this particular G.O and

    subsequent tender notice was for a period of 5 years. And this

    G.O.(Ms) No.40,Highways and Minor Ports (HQ1) department dated

    19.02.2020, to undertake Ordinary Maintenance, initial Rectification

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    Works, Periodic Maintenance Work on select road totalling

    approximately 462.211 KM in Thanjavur District. The maintenance

    work will also include cross drainage works, minor work on the bridge

    and road side maintenance within the select road limits. Ordinary

    maintenance will be payable as proportionate monthly lumpsums

    over the 5 years period of the Contract.

    4. The Superintending Engineer, Highways Department ,

    (Construction and Maintenance), Trichy, had issued a Tender Notice

    No, 37/2019-2020/HDO dated 25.02.2020 inviting Tender works for

    the purpose of introducing for the first time Performance Based

    Maintenance Contract [PBMC] tender system and the same is

    aimed to create a monopoly of only big contractors, with the intention

    of supporting contractors who are in the ruling party or close to the

    ruling party. This has affected the small contractors who would

    always bid for an annual tender instead of a 5 years tender which

    was never in practice.

    5. This monopoly for contractors who are in the ruling party or

    close to the ruling party is being created adverse to the interests of

    the state exchequer. Rs. 1165 crores is being allotted to one

    contractor for the work which is usually done by several Class - I

    contractors in small bits and lots annually under the direct

    supervision of sub-divisional officers. Now without any proper reason

    the system is being changed for allotment of one big lot of 462.211

    Kms in Thanjavur, Orathanadu, Pattukottai and Peravoorani sub-

    divisions of Thanjavur (H) C&M division.

    6. This has been done by the department in a hurried manner

    even G.O and tender notice there is a discrepancy of Rs. 74.68

    Crores in the value of the cost of the work for 462.211 kms. As per

    the G.O. the value of the work is Rs. 1239.68 crores and as per the

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    tender notice it is 1165 crores. The value of the work has been hiked

    in the government order and this is detrimental to the public interests

    and the state exchequer. The same work done annually would cost

    just about 75-100 crores and for 5 years (60 months) including

    maintenance would not exceed Rs.500 crores. Thus an excess of

    Rs. 700- 800 crores is in-built in the shift to 5 year tender terms.

    7. What makes all these action even more suspicious is if the

    value of the tender is more than 500 crores, the same has to be

    published prominently in various national dailies in English and

    Vernacular languages. This has not been done intentionally. And the

    present situation of spread of the COVID-19 virus the state is under

    quarantine and sec. 144 Cr PC has been passed for the entire state.

    From 20th March onwards the state was under travel restrictions and

    it was impossible to prepare the papers and file the tender bid.

    However regardless of all this affecting the competition the

    department have hurriedly processed opening the tender even during

    this lock-down period. And it is learnt that only two pre-determined

    favoured bidders who have all the papers ready for making their bid

    had filed the tenders. It seems that the contractor was decided by the

    ruling party even before issuing the G.O and tender notice. Even at a

    time of crisis the Government body is being used to mint money

    through ponzi schemes and projects which only enriches few

    companies which are run by ruling party, people close to the ruling

    party and benamis of the Cabinet Ministers, in this case Hon’ble

    Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu himself.

    8. The department would normally seek pre-qualification of specific

    experience of the contractor that he should have successfully

    completed contract in any one year within the last five years for a

    value of atleast 40% of total contract value of the project, but this

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    tender notification had only fixed 25% of total cost as pre-

    qualification which is contrary to their earlier tender notification.

    9. The cost indicated in the G.O. is exorbitant and there is an

    inbuilt excess of Rs. 700- 800 crores in the shift to 5 year tender

    terms.The same work done annually would cost just about 75-100

    crores and for 5 years (60 months) including maintenance would not

    exceed Rs.500 crores. Thus an excess of Rs. 700- 800 crores is

    inbuilt in the shift to 5 year tender terms.

    10.In the wake of the funds crunch due to COVID-19 the central

    government has sent an advisory to the NHAI and all State

    governments to explore the road infrastructure construction cost and

    avoid fresh investments in huge projects. When we are facing lack of

    funds to get over this pandemic situation and the state government

    have been requesting funds from the central governments these type

    of projects only showcases the corruption and greediness of the

    Ruling Party to amass wealth even at the time of crisis.

    11. Mr.R.S.Bharathi has lodged a complaint with DVAC, Since

    there was no action he had filed a petition before the Hon’ble High

    Court to register a case in W.P.No. 8080/2020. However since it was

    represented that the tender itself was cancelled the Petition was

    dismissed as withdrawn. However the same methodology was

    adopted and the tender was allotted in favour of benami companies

    of the CM on 18/11/2020 and 19/11/2020. The approximate value of

    the corruption amount is 1500 Crores,in this project alone.

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    D. DISPROPORTIONATE ASSETS

    1. In 2016, Thiru.K.Palanisami declared in his election affidavit that

    his income for 2015-2016 was Rs. 3,17,901/- and HUF business

    income for the period of 2015 -2016 is Rs.2,77,393 and agriculture

    income is Rs.9,75,000/-. Further, Thiru.K.Palanisami claimed source

    of income through Balaji Metals partnership concern. As far as his

    wife’s source of income for the period of 2015-2016 through

    business is Rs. 2,51,736/- and agriculture income is Rs. 1,90,000/-

    and his son’s source of income for the period of 2015-2016 through

    business is Rs. 6,70,156/- and agriculture income is Rs. 3,75,000/-

    and daughter in law’s sources of income for the period of 2015-2016

    is Rs. 46,25,993/-. Further, his mother has no source of income. She

    has not filed income tax return and she is not an Income Tax

    assessee.

    2. The said benamis acquired wealth from 28.04.2016 to as on date

    through his unknown source of income and the details of assets

    through his close relatives and the benamis are here under.

    Mr.Vetrivel Easwaramoorthy and Mr. N.R.Suriyakanth are the

    Directors of SPAC Starch Products (India) Ltd while

    Mr.VetrivelEaswaramoorthy is Thiru. Edapadi K.Palanisamy’s own

    sister’s son (nephew) and Mr.N.R.Suriyakanth is co-brother of

  • 22

    Mr.Mithun who is son of Thiru. EdapadiK.Palanisamy.The said

    BinamiesMr.VetrivelEaswaramoorthy and Mr.N.R.Suriyakanth have

    no sources of income for the previous years. On behalf of Thiru.

    EdapadiK.Palanisamy, the benamies have purchased the following

    properties:

    S.NO. SALE DEED

    AND DATE

    BENAMI TRANSACTIONS

    1

    1

    Sale Deed No.2631 of 2018 dated 20.09.2018

    • Purchased by

    Thiru. EdapadiK.Palanisamy through his benami Mr.VetrivelEaswaramoorthy who is Chief operating Officer of SPAC Starch Products (India) Ltd.

    • purchased for a value of Rs.1,32,000/- (one lakh thirty two thousand only)

    • property has a market value of Rs.20,00,000/- (twenty lakhs only)

    2

    Sale Deed No.2632 of 2018 dated 20.09.2018

    • Purchased by

    Thiru. EdapadiK.Palanisamy through his benami Mr.VetrivelEaswaramoorthy who is Chief operating Officer of SPAC Starch Products (India) Ltd.

    • purchased for a value of Rs.20,88,000/- (twenty lakhs eighty eight thousand only)

    • property has a market value of Rs. 1,20,00,000/- (one crore twenty lakhs only)

    Sale Deed

    • Purchased by Thiru.

    EdapadiK.Palanisamy through his

  • 23

    3 No.2893 of 2018 dated 16.10.2018

    benami Mr.VetrivelEaswaramoorthy who is Chief operating Officer of SPAC Starch Products (India) Ltd.

    • purchased for a value of Rs.20,88,000/- (twenty lakhs eighty eight thousand only)

    • property has a market value of Rs. 1,20,00,000/- (one crore twenty lakhs only)

    4

    Sale Deed No.2433 of 2018 dated 05.09.2018

    • Purchased by

    Thiru. EdapadiK.Palanisamy through his benami Mr.VetrivelEaswaramoorthy who is Chief operating Officer of SPAC Starch Products (India) Ltd.

    • purchased for a value of Rs.12,43,500/- (twelve lakhs forty three thousand and five hundred only)

    • property has a market value of Rs.40,00,00,000/- (forty crores only)

    5

    Sale Deed No.2571 of 2018 dated 14.09.2018

    • Purchased by Thiru. EdapadiK.Palanisamy through his benami Mr.VetrivelEaswaramoorthy who is Chief operating Officer of SPAC Starch Products (India) Ltd.

    • purchased for a value of Rs.2,52,000/- (two lakhs fifty two thousand only)

    • property has a market value of Rs.10,00,000/- (ten lakhs only)

    6

    Sale Deed No.2708 of

    • Purchased by

    Thiru. EdapadiK.Palanisamy

  • 24

    2018 dated 28.09.2018

    through his benami Mr.VetrivelEaswaramoorthy who is Chief operating Officer of SPAC Starch Products (India) Ltd.

    • purchased for a

    value of Rs.18,72,000/- (Eighteen lakhs seventy two thousand only)

    • property has a market value of Rs. 1,20,00,000/-(one crore twenty lakhs only)

    7

    Sale Deed No.2717 of 2018 dated 01.10.2018

    • Purchased by Thiru. EdapadiK.Palanisamy through his benami Mr.VetrivelEaswaramoorthy who is Chief operating Officer of SPAC Starch Products (India) Ltd.

    • purchased for a value Rs.50,95,500/- (fifty lakhs ninety five thousand and five hundred only)

    • property has a market value of Rs.3,50,00,000/-(three crores fifty lakhs only)

    8

    Sale Deed No.2432 of 2018 dated 05.09.2018

    • Purchased by Thiru. EdapadiK.Palanisamy through his benami Mr.VetrivelEaswaramoorthy who is Chief operating Officer of SPAC Starch Products (India) Ltd.

    • purchased for a value Rs.70,47,100/- (Seventy lakhs forty seven thousand and hundred only)

    • property has a market value of Rs.4,00,00,000/- (four crores only)

    9

    Sale Deed No.2316 of

    • Purchased by Thiru. EdapadiK.Palanisamy

  • 25

    2018 dated 23.08.2018

    through his benami Mr.VetrivelEaswaramoorthy who is Chief operating Officer of SPAC Starch Products (India) Ltd.

    • purchased for a

    value Rs.3,41,01,000/- (three crores forty one lakhs and one thousand only)

    • property has a market value of Rs.20,00,00,000/- (twenty crores only)

    10

    Sale Deed No.3669 of 2018 dated 20.12.2018

    • Purchased by

    Thiru. EdapadiK.Palanisamy through his benami Mr.VetrivelEaswaramoorthy who is Chief operating Officer of SPAC Starch Products (India) Ltd.

    • purchased for a value Rs.8,20,000/- (eight lakhs twenty thousand only)

    • property has a market value of Rs. 70,00,000/- (seventy lakhs only)

    11

    Sale Deed No.2572 of 2018 dated 14.09.2018

    • Purchased by Thiru. EdapadiK.Palanisamy through his benami Mr.VetrivelEaswaramoorthy who is Chief operating Officer of SPAC Starch Products (India) Ltd.

    • purchased for a value Rs.21,16,000/- (twenty one lakhs sixteen thousand only)

    • property has a market value of Rs.2,50,00,000/- (two crores fifty lakhs only)

    Sale Deed No.1096 of

    • Purchased by Thiru. EdapadiK.Palanisamy

  • 26

    12

    2019 dated 25.04.2019

    through his benami Mr.VetrivelEaswaramoorthy who is Chief operating Officer of SPAC Starch Products (India) Ltd.

    • purchased for a value Rs.7,17,000/- (seven lakhs seventeen thousand only)

    • property has a market value of Rs. 80,00,000/- (eighty lakhs only)

    13

    Sale Deed No.1097 of 2019 dated 25.04.2019

    • Purchased by

    Thiru. EdapadiK.Palanisamy through his benami Mr.VetrivelEaswaramoorthy who is Chief operating Officer of SPAC Starch Products (India) Ltd.

    • purchased for a

    value Rs.7,17,000/- (seven lakhs seventeen thousand only)

    • property has a

    market value of Rs. 80,00,000/- (eighty lakhs only)

    14

    Sale Deed No.1098 of 2019 dated 25.04.2019

    • Purchased by Thiru. EdapadiK.Palanisamy through his benami Mr.VetrivelEaswaramoorthy who is Chief operating Officer of SPAC Starch Products (India) Ltd.

    • purchased for a value Rs.7,96,000/- (seven lakhs ninety six thousand only)

    • property has a market value of Rs. 80,00,000/- (eighty lakhs only)

  • 27

    3. It is stated that this is only a tip of the ice berg and only a

    thorough probe and proper investigation will reveal the exact

    quantum of assets amassed by Thiru. Edapadi K Palanisami.

    The vendors namely R.P.Selvasundaram (R.P.P.

    Constructions) is one of the Benamies of Thiru. Edapadi

    K.Palanisami, who are the main contractors in all over

    Tamilnadu. The said Benamis are targeting agricultural land

    and are purchasing and registering sale deeds at much lower

    value than the actual market value. Further, all these

    agricultural lands are being used for commercial purposes

    without getting proper sanction from the concerned authorities.

    The Agricultural lands are being exploited en masse by Thiru.

    Edapadi K.Palanisami and his close associates which have

    deep socioeconomic effects in the state. The waste water is

    being discharged into villages without seeking permission from

    Pollution Control Board. The total properties are worth more

    than Rs. 1000 Crores.

  • 28

    4. Thiru. Edapadi K.Palanisami has also acquired

    wealth through his unknown source of income when he was

    holding the Ministry for Highways and Minor Ports during 2011

    to 2016 through Mr.P.Subramaniam, who is father in law of his

    son Mr.Mithun. On behalf of Thiru. Edapadi K.Palanisami, the

    benami had purchased the following properties:

    S.NO. SALE DEED AND

    DATE

    BENAMI TRANSACTIONS

    1

    Sale

    Deed No. 525 of

    2015 dated

    22.01.2015

    • Purchased by Thiru.

    Edapadi K.Palanisami through his benami

    Mr. P.Subramaniam,

    • purchased for a value of

    Rs.16,90,000/- (sixteen lakhs ninety

    thousand only )

    • property has a market

    value of Rs. 20,00,00,000/- (twenty

    crores only)

    2

    Sale

    Deed No. 6378 of

    2015 dated

    06.07.2015

    • Purchased by Thiru.

    Edapadi K.Palanisami through his benami

    Mr. P.Subramaniam,

    • purchased for a value of

    Rs.13,77,000/- (thirteen lakhs seventy

    seven thousand only )

    • property has a market

    value of Rs. 10,00,00,000/- (ten crores

    only)

  • 29

    3

    Sale

    Deed No. 6379 of

    2015 dated

    06.07.2015

    • Purchased by Thiru.

    Edapadi K.Palanisami through his benami

    Mr. P.Subramaniam,

    • purchased for a value of

    Rs.36,00,000/- (thirty six lakhs only )

    • property has a market

    value of Rs. 30,00,00,000/- (thirty crores

    only)

    5. Thiru. Edapadi K.Palanisami during his

    second term as Ministry for Highways and Minor Ports

    during 2016 to 2017 before he became Chief Minister of

    Tamil Nadu had acquired 2 properties through

    Mr.P.Subramaniam, who is father in law of his son

    Mr.Mithun. On behalf of Thiru. Edapadi K.Palanisami, the

    benami had purchased the following properties:

    S.NO. SALE DEED

    AND DATE

    BENAMI TRANSACTIONS

    1

    Sale Deed No.

    9653 of 2016

    dated 28.09.2016

    • Purchased by

    Thiru. Edapadi K.Palanisami

    through his benami Mr. P.Subra

    maniam,

    • purchased for a

    value of Rs.8,55,000/- (Eight

    lakhs fifty five thousand only

    • property has a

  • 30

    market value of Rs. 7,00,00,000/-

    (seven crores only)

    2

    Sale Deed No.

    9654 of 2016

    dated 28.09.2016

    • Purchased by

    Thiru. Edapadi K.Palanisami

    through his benami Mr. P.Subra

    maniam,

    • purchased for a

    value of Rs.36,00,000/- (thirty six

    lakhs only )

    • property has a

    market value of Rs.

    30,00,00,000/- (thirty crores only)

  • 31

    HON’BLE DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER THIRU.O.PANNEERSELVAM

    A.DISPROPORTIONATE ASSETS

    1. A complaint was given by Thiru.R.S. Bharathi on 10.03.3018

    against the Minister to the Director, Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-

    Corruption. No action was taken by the Directorate for several

    months due to which Thiru. Bharathi was constrained to approach

    the Hon’ble High Court in Crl. OP. No. 18091 of 2018 seeking action.

    The Hon’ble High Court was pleased to direct the Directorate of

    Vigilance and Anti-Corruption to inquire and register a First

    Information Report.

    2. There has been no inquiry or registration of FIR in the

    complaint given by Thiru. Bharathi till date, in flagrant violation of the

    order passed by the Hon’ble High Court.

    The gist of the allegations in the complaint is as follows:

    Check Period 2011 to 2016

    a) It is reliably learnt that Thiru. O.Panneerselvam had invested

    money and bought properties in the names of his wife, children,

    brothers Thiru. O.Raja, Thiru. O. Balamurugan and Thiru.

    O.Shanmugha Sundaram and their families and his business

    associates including Thiru. R. Subburaj and his wife Tmt. Uma

    Maheshwari.

    b) In the Affidavits filed before the Election Commission of India

    he has made several declarations by suppressing material facts and

    by making inconsistent statements which are inherently improbable

    and false. Some of the instances where he has made such

    declarations are as follows:

  • 32

    c) In 2016, he declared in his election affidavit that his income

    for 2014-2015 was Rs.5,80,875. However, this is a gross

    underestimation for the relevant year as his basic salary as an MLA

    (Rs. 55, 000 X 12) was itself Rs. 6, 60, 000. During this period, he

    was also the Chief Minister and hence, would have received a higher

    salary and other emoluments. During the same period he is said to

    have purchased Toyota Innova car (TN 04 AX 2345) worth

    Rs.17,85,655/- which is highly improbable considering the total

    income earned by him even as per his declaration.

    d) Thiru O.Panneerselvam acquired 4 acres and 60 cents of

    Punja lands in S.no. 1525 by virtue of a Partition deed dated

    27/6/1994 bearing document no. 776/94. It appears he has sold

    3 acres 60 cents by virtue of sale deed bearing document no.

    1130/1996 and retained 1 acre in the said survey number. However

    in the affidavits filed before the Election Commission both in 2011

    and 2016 he had not disclosed this property. The reasons for

    suppression of this fact has to be investigated.

    e) As regards the declarations made by Thiru. O.

    Panneerselvam in respect of his wife Vijayalakshmi’s property there

    is a steep raise. Mrs. P. Vijayalakshmi W/o. Thiru O.Panneerselvam

    owned a house which was bought by her on 2/11/1998 for

    Rs.2,71,225/-. In 2011 Thiru O.Panneerselvam declared the value of

    the house at Rs. 10,00,000/- that he had made improvement worth

    Rs. 5,00,000/- However in 2016 value of the same house was shown

    as Rs. 20,00,000/-. The increase in value raises doubt about the

    money spent for improvement during the interregnum. Another

    instance of false declaration in respect of his wife’s property is in the

    affidavit filed during the Election in 2011 where he had declared his

    wife’s loan from City Union Bank, George Town Branch as

  • 33

    Rs.2,81,314. Whereas records would reveal that his wife actually

    received Rs. 9,00,000/-. Likewise, in the very same affidavit he had

    declared his wife’s income as Rs. 36,251/- for 2005 & 2006,

    whereas the records show that he had paid income tax of Rs.

    20,400/- for the same year which is improbable and unbelievable. In

    the affidavit in 2011, the value of his wife’s property is estimated as

    Rs. 24,20,000/- . In 2016 the properties value was shown as Rs.

    78,00,000/- The steep increase in the value considering the fact that

    Mrs. P. Vijayalakshmi is a house wife and had no source of income

    raises a doubt about the source of acquiring the properties.

    f) That apart in the Election Affidavit filed in 2016 the value of land

    purchased in 2011 from one A. Kubendran was not shown as also

    the property purchased from one Subburaj in the year 2015 bearing

    document no. 1508/2014.

    g) It is reliably learnt that the following properties are held by

    Thiru O. Panneerselvam to his benamies

    (i) Bojarajan Mills in Theni district was leased 99 acres of land

    (valued at more than 140 crores) for 99 years by the Government.

    The lease ended in the year 2011-12. After that, it was purchased of

    Thiru. O. Panneerselvam at less than the prevailing market value of

    the land through his benamies.

    (ii) A mango grove of 150 acres of wetland situated in

    ShenbagaThoppu,Srivilliputhur is held by Thiru. O. Panneerselvam in

    the name of his benamies

    (iii) He controls the cardamom markets through his benamies in

    Bodinayakkanur by abusing his official position.

    (iv) His sons have invested in various companies and their

    source of such investments remain unexplained and needs thorough

    investigations.

  • 34

    (v) Thiru. O. Panneerselvam’s children, Thiru. P. Raveendranath

    Kumar, Thiru V. Jayapradeep and Tmt. Kavitha Banu are directors of

    various companies. They have made investments more than

    200 crores in companies engaged in myriad range of activities not

    only in India but also in the U.S., Turkey, Indonesia and Malaysia.

    (vi) Thiru. O. Panneerselvam’s son V. Jayapradeep was not

    even 25 years of age before becoming a director of 3 companies:

    Willownet Exim Pvt. Ltd, Vijayanth Developers Pvt. Ltd and Vani

    Fabrics Pvt. Ltd. It is improbable that at this age he had the financial

    means to invest in these companies.

    (vii) Vani Fabrics Pvt. Ltd paid its directors, Thiru. P.

    Raveendranath Kumar and Thiru. V. Jayapradeep, three times the

    salary (Rs. 9, 00, 000) as other directors for the year 2015-2016. In

    fact, they were paid more than the managing director. These facts

    establish that the companies are being floated by the children of

    Thiru.O.Pannerselvam only to launder the illegal money obtained by

    corruption.

    (viii) Thiru. P. Raveendranath Kumar and Thiru. V. Jayapradeep

    bought several acres of land valued at Rs. 67, 26, 883 for

    themselves and also on behalf of JayamVijayam Enterprises. These

    transactions are undervalued and the source of money for these

    transactions is unknown. Door No. 113-114, Unit No. 801, 8th Floor,

    Raheja Towers, Anna Salai is the address is the Registered Address

    of Xllent Marine Line Pvt. Ltd, and also, RIMART International Pvt.

    Ltd, Perigon IT Edu Pvt. Ltd although these companies have different

    directors and are engaged in completely different business

    activities.These companies and other companies like Paapa Builders

    Pvt. Ltd where associates of Thiru. O. Panneerselvam are directors

    and shareholders are not legitimately conducting any business

  • 35

    activity, accurately representing their true financial

    situation,complying with all laws including the Companies Act and

    acting as a conduit for laundering money on behalf of Thiru.

    O.Panneerselvam and his associates.

    h) Besides the above the said, Thiru O. Panneerselvam had indulged

    in abuse of power to obtain pecuniary advantage for his family

    members.

    i) His sons Thiru P.Raveendranath Kumar and Thiru V. Jayapradeep

    are directors in Vani Fabrics Pvt. Ltd. and have made substantial

    investments in the company. Through their shareholding in the above

    company, they also own shares in Veena Fabrics Pvt. Ltd. In order to

    obtain undue advantage to them, whenThiru. O. Panneerselvam

    was Chief Minister from 28.09.2014 to 22.05.2015, through G.O.(Ms)

    No. 45 dated 25.03.2015, the Value Added Tax for dealers on works

    contract relating to sizing of yarn and sale of cardamom were

    exempted and reduced from 5 per cent and 2 per cent respectively.

    This decision has cost the state thousands of crores in revenue while

    benefitting his and associates’ private financial interests.

    j) In Periyakulam, until July 12, 2017, Tmt. P. Viyayalakshmi owned

    40 acres of land along the Varattaru river. In violation of the law, four

    bore wells were dug within just 50m of the river bank depleting the

    river and causing distress to surrounding farmers. After widespread

    protests, she transferred the land worth Rs. 23,66,290 to Thiru.

    R.Subburaj for 20,10,000.

    k) A direct link connecting Thiru. O. Panneerselvam with

    illegal gratification for official favours was furnished by the diary

    maintained by Thiru. J. Sekar Reddy, partner of the SRS Mining

    Company. Investigation into the information in that Diary by the CBI

  • 36

    and the Income Tax Department is ongoing. According to the entries

    made in the diary, Thiru. O. Panneerselvam and his associates

    received almost four crores in just six months (June - November,

    2016). The scale of corruption practiced by Thiru. O. Panneerselvam,

    as suggested by the diary for only a few months, is mind

    boggling.Thiru. O. Panneerselvam has betrayed the trust of his

    electorate and has instead sought to extend illegal favours to

    industrialists for his personal benefit.

    B. CONFLICT OF INTEREST, QUID PRO QUO

    1.One more complaint was given by Thiru. R.S.Bharathi on

    22.05.2020 against the Minister to the Director, Directorate of

    Vigilance and Anti-Corruption.

    2.There has been no inquiry or registration of FIR in the complaint

    given by Thiru. Bharathi till date in violation of the decision of the

    Constitution Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Lalita Kumari vs

    State of UP. The gist of the allegations in the complaint is as follows

    a) Use of Range Rover

    Recent media reports have revealed that the Deputy Chief Minister,

    Mr. O.Panneerselvam was seen traveling in Range Rover bearing

    registration number TN 05 CE 2345 (hereinafter, “Range Rover”).

    Road Transport Authority records show that this vehicle has been

    registered in the name of M/s Vijayanth Developers Private Limited

    (hereinafter, “M/s Vijayanth”). Ministry of Corporate Affairs website

    shows that M/s Vijayanth has three Directors:

    Mr. JayapradeepPannerselvam

    Mr. Raveendranath Kumar

    Ms. Kavitha Banu

  • 37

    The three Directors, named above, are children of Mr. O. Panneer

    selvam. Mr. O.Panneerselvam has been provided with an official

    vehicle – Innova Crysta bearing registration number TN 06 BG 2345

    – since 2017 and therefore, there is no cogent and believable reason

    why Mr. O. Panneerselvam has been using the Range Rover car

    which belongs to a private company (M/s Vijayanth). According to the

    financial documents submitted by the company to the Ministry of

    Corporate Affairs, the car was bought using a loan advanced by

    HDFC in February 2019 for a total sum of INR 63,52,779 /- (Rupees

    Sixty Three Lakhs, Fifty Two Thousand, Seven Hundred and Seventy

    Nine Only).

    b) Conflict of Interest

    Mr. O. Panneerselvam has been serving as Deputy Chief Minister

    since August 2017 and holds charges of the following portfolios:

    Finance, Planning, Legislative Assembly, Elections and Passports,

    Housing, Rural Housing and Housing Development, Slum Clearance

    Board and Accommodation Control, Town Planning, Urban

    Development and Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority.

    These facts mentioned hereinabove have given rise to a number of

    serious issues of corruption and make out a prima facie case for

    initiating a criminal investigation inter alia into the following issues:

    Mr. O.Panneerselvam (Deputy Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu), as a

    public servant, has obtained pecuniary benefit of over INR

    62 lakhs by availing the use of Range Rover car which is owned by

    a private company i.e. M/s Vijayanth Developers Pvt. Ltd.

    M/s Vijayanth Developers Pvt. Ltd., a company which was dormant

    and no business activity from 2008 till 2017 is a shell company for

    laundering money.

  • 38

    M/s Vijayanth Developers Pvt. Ltd. obtained a bank loan by falsely

    stating that it was for erecting and running a windmill in

    Dharmapuram but instead used the loan amount to purchase land in

    Tiruppur.

    Mr. Raveendranath Kumar and O. Panneerselvam had misused the

    authority and position of the office of Minister of Government of

    Tamil Nadu by providing the address of one of the Directors of

    M/s.Vijayanth Developers Pvt. Ltd. (i.e. Mr. Raveendranath Kumar)

    as ‘No. 147, Thenpannai, Greenways Road, R.A.Puram, Chennai –

    600 028’ which is the address allotted to Mr. O.Panneerselvam in his

    capacity as Minister to the Government of Tamil Nadu.

    Whether M/s Vijayanth Developers Pvt. Ltd., having undertaken no

    previous construction work or activity, has the requisite expertise to

    carry out a development project involving construction of 117 plots

    covering an extent of 36,500 sq.m

    It is not known on what basis was the DTCP approval given to M/s

    Vijayanth Developers Pvt. Ltd. on 05.12.2019 when they had no

    prior experience in construction or development business?

    On what basis was TNRERA project registration approval given to

    M/s Vijayanth Developers Pvt. Ltd., a company with no prior

    experience in real estate/ construction / development business?

    Hence, There is a clear case of quid pro quo involving Mr.

    O.Panneerselvam using the Range Rover car belonging to Ms/

    Vijayanth Developers Pvt. Ltd., which company having no prior

    experience in construction or development business was provided

    with DTCP approval by a department which is one of the portfolios

    held by Mr. O. Panneerselvam.

  • 39

    c) Loss to Government

    G.O.(Ms) No. 178 (HCS1)

    On the basis of letters from the Registrar of Co-operative Societies

    (Housing) dated 26.02.2019, 01.03.2019 an 31.10.2019, G.O.(Ms)

    No. 178(HCS1) dated 12.11.2019 was issued providing Government

    Guarantee of INR 462.69 crore for implementation of a house site

    scheme in an area comprised in survey numbers 148/4B & others at

    Varadarajapuram&Erumaiyur Villages, Sriperumbudur Taluk,

    Kancheepuram. The scheme details are as provided by the Registrar

    of Co-operative Societies, is as follows:

    Extent of Land to be purchased: 120 acres

    Cost of one acre (developed): INR 701.04 lakhs

    Total Cost: INR 841.25 lakhs.

  • 40

    C. BRIBE PAID BY U.S. COMPANY TO EB AND PLANNING PERMISSION ETC.,

    Mr.Tha.Mo.Anbarasan , our party MLA has lodged a complaint on

    18/02/2019 with the Joint Director of CBI, Chennai and the gist of the

    Complaint is as follows:-

    In the order dt. 15.02.2019 taken in cease-and-desist proceedings

    by the Securities and Exchange Commission of United States of

    America, as published in a Release No.85149, initiated against

    Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, in paragraph No.16,

    it has been recorded as follows:

    “Bribe Payment in Siruseri, Tamil Nadu

    16. In Siruseri, Cognizant India authorized Contracting Firm-1 to pay

    bribes totaling $840,000 to government officials for the issuance of

    several construction-related permits, including a planning permit, a

    power permit from the local electricity board, and an environmental

    clearance. Contracting Firm-1 made the payments in or around 2012,

    and Cognizant subsequently received the permits in the second half

    of that year. The contractor submitted change order requests for

    several inflated or unjustified work items. Cognizant India rejected

    the initial requests, but later approved the change orders after the

    sham descriptions were revised. Cognizant India reimbursed

    Contracting Firm-1 for the bribe payments in installments between

    2015 and 2016.”

    3. A reading of the above paragraph in the order revealed that there

    was a demand of bribe by the Government Officials from

    Cognizant Company, for issuance of Construction-related permits

    i.e. Planning Permits, clearances for providing Electricity Service

  • 41

    Connections to the Constructions made by Cognizant India Ltd. and

    also Environmental clearances. The demanded bribe has been paid

    by the Contracting Firm – 1 which has been later reimbursed by

    Cognizant India. The total bribe paid on behalf of Cognizant company

    was equivalent to $840,000 Million US Dollars, which is a huge

    amount in Indian Rupees.

    4. Without the knowledge of the Ministers of the concerned

    Department, the demand of bribe would not have been made by the

    officials, as the projects that were carried out by a Foreign Based

    company through its Indian subsidiary company. There must be an

    understanding among the Company, Government Officials and the

    Government in the process of clearing the projects by granting

    Planning Permits, Electricity Connection and Environmental

    Clearances. In fact, the demanded and paid bribe amount has been

    reimbursed by Cognizant company, as recorded in the above said

    order.

    For discharging the duties, the Government Officials have reportedly

    received bribe from the US based company, which is serious and the

    officials who involved in the said illegal demand of bribe shall be

    dealt with in accordance with Law i.e under the provisions of

    Prevention of Corruption Act and other penal Laws covering

    international offences as the transaction of amount has been

    reportedly transacted from United States for ultimate reimbursement

    of bribe paid to the officials of Tamil Nadu Government Officials.

  • 42

    HON’BLE MINISTER FOR MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION THIRU.

    S. P. VELUMANI

    A. LARGE SCALE CORRUPTION IN ALLOTTING CONTRACTS

    TO HIS BENAMIES

    a) A complaint was given by Thiru. R.S.Bharathi on 10.09.2018

    against the Minister to the Director, Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-

    Corruption.

    b) No action was taken on the complaint and after Thiru.

    Bharathi approached the Hon’ble High Court in Crl. OP. No. 23428 of

    2018, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption, at the

    instance of the Minister, conducted an investigation without

    registration of First Information Report and closed the complaint

    during the pendency of the petition.

    c) The gist of the allegations in the complaint is as follows:

    i. Thiru. S.P. Velumani is the cabinet minister for Municipal

    Administration, Rural Development, Corporations, Panchayats and

    Panchayat Unions, Poverty Alleviation Programmes, Rural

    Indebtedness, Urban and Rural Water Supply (TWAD) and

    Implementation of Special Programme since 2014. Through the

    documentary materials it has been established all the contracts of the

    Local administration Department were awarded only to the following

    companies which are owned by his close associates. All the tender

    documents by all these companies were uploaded from the same IP

    address.

  • 43

    ii. COMPANIES FLOATED BY THIRU. S.P. VELUMANI’S

    RELATIVES, FRIENDS AND BENAMIS

    1. KCP engineers Pvt. Ltd.

    2. P. Senthil and Co.

    3. Varadhan Infrastructure

    4. Constronics India

    5. Alayam Foundation Pvt. Ltd.

    6. Contromall Goods Pvt. Ltd.

    7. Invicta Meditek Ltd.

    RELATIONSHIP

    • Mr. S.P. Velumani and Mr. Chandrasekar’s father Mr. Rajan are

    close friends for past 20 years.

    • Mr. S.P.Velumani who was a contractor knew Mr. Rajan who

    was a licensed explosive dealer for quarries.

    • Mr. Chandrasekar is a Civil engineer. He was holding the post

    of the Subarban Students wing leader in AIADMK. Now he is

    managing the official mouth piece of AIADMK party “ Namadhu

    Amma”.

    • Mr. Chandrasekar and Mr. Chandraprakash (civil engineer) are

    close friends for several years. Both being civil engineers were

    working as Technical Assistants for a Junior Engineer in

    Coimbatore Corporation West Zone since 1998.

    • Mr. Chandraprakash’s father is Mr. Krishnakumar who was

    running a company in the name and style of M/s KCP

  • 44

    Engineers and Fabricators which was later given to Mr.

    Chandraprakash and he has been running it in the name of

    KCP Engineers.

    • Mr. Chandrasekars younger brother Mr. Anbarasan and various

    family members have floated companies namely Vardhan

    Infrastructure, Constronics India, AalayamFoundationPvt. Ltd.,

    Constromall Goods Pvt. Ltd., InvictaMeditek Ltd. which under

    took various contracts in Coimbatore and Chennai corporation.

    KCP ENGINEERS

    • This company was started by Mr. Krishnakumar who was

    running this company in the name of KCP Engineers and

    Fabricators. This company was later handed over to

    Mr.Chandra prakash and he has been running this company in

    the name of KCP Engineers Pvt Ltd.

    • Mr. Chandraprakash and R. Chandrasekar Purchased

    1,08,376 shares of KCP Engineers Pvt Ltd. At more than 300

    times of their face value at Rs. 3,77,14,848/-

    • KCP engineers have managed to increase their turnover to an

    unimaginable number within 2011 to 2017. The turnover of

    KCP during the year 2011 was Rs. 17 Lakhs which has grown

    upto Rs. 142 crores.

    • This company has alone obtained contracts worth

    Rs.498 Crores

  • 45

    SENTHIL AND CO

    • This company belongs to Thiru S.P. Velumani’s own brothers

    Thiru. S.P. Anbarasan and Thiru. S.P.Senthil

    • This company has undertaken prijects worth Rs. 15 Crores

    from the Coimbatore Corporation alone from the year 2011-

    2015

    • The payments of this company in the year 2011 where Rs.

    17,88,569 but in the year 2015 there payments had gone upto

    Rs. 8,74,45,787

    VARDHAN INFRASTRUCTURE

    • This company is owned by Tmt. Sundari Krishnakumar Mother

    of Thiru. K. Chandra Prakash and ChinnasamyPremkumar.

    • Vardhan Infrastructure had a total contract turnover of Rs.

    3,02,61,997 in financial year 2012 to 2013. This increased by 5

    times in the year 2014 to 2015 to Rs. 15,17,28,018. This has

    even more increased 20 times in 2016-2017 with a turnover of

    Rs. 147,34,46,007.

    CONSTRONICS INDIA

    • This is a partnership firm owned by relatives of Thiru.

    K.Chandraprakash, Managing director of KCP Engineers Pvt.

    Ltd.

    • It is presently operating from the same address as Varadhan

    Infrastructure and Constromall Goods Pvt. Ltd.

  • 46

    • The turnover of this company has increased from

    Rs.86,00,000/- to Rs. 28,55,61,334 within a span of just three

    years.

    AALAYAM FOUNDATION PVT LTD

    • This company is a subsidiary of KCP Engineers Pvt. Ltd and

    managed by Thiru. K. Chandra Prakash.

    ThiruRajanChnadrasekar resigned from the company in 2017

    but retains major shareholding

    CONSTROMALL GOODS PVT LTD

    • This is a recently floated company (04.06.2018) by Thiru.

    Chandra Prakash, Thiru. Rajan Chandrasekar and V.

    Jayaprakash partner in Constronics India (appointed as

    additional director on 31.07.2018)

    INVICTA MEDITEK LTD

    • This is a public listed company formerly based in Spencer

    Plaza and now based out of the same address as Constronic

    India and has also applied to change its name as Constronics

    India Ltd. It has appointed, in violation of Section 149 (6) of

    Companies act.

    • Thiru. K. Chandra Prakash his wife Tmt. C. Uma Maheshwari

    his business associate Thiru. J.Vishnuvadhanan and

    Thiru.Palani swamy Sathiyamoorthy.

  • 47

    • In the meeting held on 18.06.2018 the board of directors made

    the above changes and also changed the Memorandum of

    Association to include “ all kinds of construction related

    activities and supply of manpower”.

    AALAM GOLD AND DIAMONDS PVT. LTD.

    • The founding directors of this company is Thiru. Rajan

    Chandrasekar and K. Chandra Prakash. This company was

    incorporated in May 2018.

    • The above directors are resigned merely after 10 days after

    the incorporation.

    • Tmt. Uma Maheshwari Thiru K. Chandra Prakash’s wife and

    SathyamoorthySaravanakumar are the present Mananging

    Director and Director of Company respectively.

    RATNAA LAKSHMI HOTELS PVT. LTD.

    • This company managed by Thiru K. Chandra Prakash and

    Palani Rangarajan

    • Thiru. K. Chandra Prakash had resigned and H. Karthik who is

    the Constronics India has been appointed instead.

  • 48

    B. CORRUPTION IN LED LAMP FIXATION

    A complaint was given by Thiru. M. Appavu on 20.07.2020

    against the Minister to the Director, Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-

    Corruption. There has been no action on the complaint by the

    Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption till date in violation of

    the decision of the Constitution Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court

    in Lalita Kumari vs State of UP.

    The gist of the allegations in the complaint is as follows:

    1. According to the announcements of the Hon’ble chief

    Minister in assembly in 3 financial years, the Rural Development and

    Panchayat Raj Department issued the following Government Orders

    for replacing old lights to LED lights in phased manner at Village

    Panchayat level for total cost of Rs. 875 cr. The details of orders are

    as follows:

    Sl.

    No

    .

    Order Nos. and year Sanctioned Sum

    No. of Lights be replaced

    1. G.O.Ms. No. 19,

    Dated 02.02.2016 for

    2015-2016

    Rs. 300 cr

    8,00,000

    2. G.O. Ms. No. 11,

    Dated 25.01.2017 for

    2016-2017

    Rs. 300 cr

    (8,22,000)

    3. G.O. Ms. No. 47, Dated 26.03.2018 for 2015-2016

    (additional expenditure to

    G.O. 11, dated

    25.02.2017)

    Rs. 69.32 cr

    And altered as

    8,24,000 lights

    instead 8,22,000

  • 49

    2. When the cost of replacing streetlights comes to Rs. 300 cr

    per financial year, there is a duty to issue global e-tender since the

    work order sum is exceeding Rs. 10 Cr. as per the Tamil Nadu

    Transparency in Tender Act 1998. Knowing fully well that such

    tenders within legal parameters may not be helpful to his plan of

    wrongfully gaining several crores of public exchequer money, the

    Hon’ble Minister Mr. S.P.Velumani constituted a State Level

    Committee to fix cost of LED lights for each financial year to fix the

    cost of lights and divided the work order in to 38 districts and floated

    local e-tenders by District Collector as the work order is reduced to

    below Rs.10 crores. By which he surreptitiously achieved avoiding

    technically from floating global e-tender. Accordingly, the State Level

    Committee (in short SLC) comprised officials as:

    a) The Director of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj - Chairman

    b) The Chairman/MD of TEDA or his nominee of CMD, TEDA

    c) Principal Secretary, Finance Department or his nominee

    d) The Supt. Engineer of Rural Development from o/o DRD&PR

    f) One Supt. Engineer nominated by the Chairman, TANGEDCO

    3. The SLC without being aware of the ground reality or the

    cost of each of the LED lights in retail markets or wholesale markets,

    fixed abnormal and sky high price to each category of LED lights in

    4. G.O. Ms. No. 23,

    Dated 13.02.2018 for

    2017-2018

    Rs.206.38cr

    Balance number

    of lights

  • 50

    all three 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 financial years without

    applying its mind except executing the Minister’s instructions of fixing

    such high and abnormal cost to LED lights by causing huge loss to

    public exchequer. As per the Hon’ble Minister’s instructions, the

    details of cost fixed by the SLC and comparison the cost of LED

    lights in retail market for the 3 financial years and break up is

    hereunder :

    Sl.No. Financial Year

    Cost of 20-Watt LED lights

    Cost of 90-Watt LED lights

    Cost of 20WattLEDlights in open Market

    Cost of 90Watt LED lights in open Market

    1 2015-

    2016

    Rs.

    3,737

    /-

    --- Rs.

    450/-

    ---

    2 2016-

    2017

    Rs.

    4,120

    /-

    --- Rs.

    450/-

    ---

    3 2017-

    2018

    -

    --

    Rs.14,919/- --- Rs.1550/-

    4. Further, the SLC also framed the terms and conditions of

    tenders for the Minister’s men conveniently to get contract for

    replacing lights at Districts level. As per the terms and conditions of

    the tender framed by the SLC, the District Collectors floated tenders

    at District Level to purchase LED lights to Village Panchayats. Since

    the script of corruption is well drafted and approved by the Hon’ble

    Minister Mr. S.P. Velumani in his department level at the Secretariat,

  • 51

    the District Collectors followed the script of corruption to implement

    the same by which the Hon’ble Minister pocketed huge exchequer

    money through his benami vendors/suppliers/contractors at District

    level, who are neither manufacturers of LED lights nor dealers of

    branded LED lights companies. Mr. S. P.Velumani constituted the

    SLC to take away the financial empowerment granted under

    Panchyat Raj Act to the Village Panchayat Presidents is just to

    swindle the public exchequer money in single window system. The

    usurping of financial empowerment of the Village Panchayat

    Presidents grave danger to the Panchayat Raj system.

    5. The vendors/suppliers of 20- and 90-Watt LED suppliers to

    various districts are either fake or haveno experience in electrical

    business or don’t have permanent entities and those are nothing but

    benami entities of Hon’ble Minister S. P. Velumani. The sample list of

    LED lights benamisuppliers to the districts are hereunder:

    Sl.No. Name of Suppliers Contract orders Ref. No.

    1 KCP Engineers Pvt Ltd Pullayakulam, Coimbatore

    Lr. No.A4/1415/2019, dt. 10.06.2019, issued by

    Dy.BDO, Anthanallur Panchayat Union Thirchirapalli District

    2 C.R. Construction 40/7, 40/8, Veeramathi

    Amman Koil Street, PN Pudur, Coimbatore

    Lr. No. 582/2019/R8, dated 24.05.2019, issued by the Asst. Director of Panchayat, Dharmapuri District

    3

    General Enviro Tech Pvt Ltd 70-A, Kalluri Nagar, Anna

    Nagar Peelamedu, Coimbatore

    Lr. No. 582/2019/R8, dated

    24.05.2019, issued by the Asst. Director of Panchayat, Dharmapuri District

    4 R. Krishnamurthy & Co Engineering Contractor,

    Sapthamaliga Apartment, Kilpauk, Chennai 600010

    Lr. No. 582/2019/R8, dated 24.05.2019, issued by the Asst. Director of Panchayat, Dharmapuri District

    5 The Acetech Machinery Components India Pvt Ltd

    Lr. No. A1/1284/2019 (1), dated 02.05.2019, issued by the Asst.

  • 52

    71, 4th Cross, Thirumurugan Nagar, Vadavalli, Coimbatore

    Director of Panchayat, Kanyakumari District

    6 Rajarajeswara Construction 7/C, Directors Colony,

    Kodambakkam, Chennai 24

    Lr. No. 555/2017/C1, dated 27.04.2018, issued by the District Collector, Nagapattinam District

    7 B.R. Ganesh Kumar 16/27, Chellappa Street Chennai 600 012

    Lr. No. 815/2018/A5, dated 23.10.2018, issued by the District Collector, Salem

    8 Orient Poles Flat No. 17&18, Sanskrit

    Apts 1st Floor B1, Velachery by-

    pass Road, Velachery, Chennai 42

    Lr. No. 582/2019/R8, dated 24.05.2019, issued by the Assistant Director of DRDA, Dharmapuri District

    9

    .

    Sabharai Electricals Ambattur, Chennai

    Lr. No. A4/1415/2019, dated 10.06.2019, issued by the Dy. BDO, Anthanallur Panchayat Union, Thiruchirapalli District

    1

    0

    Sri Ganasha Traders Thiruchy

    Lr. No. A4/1415/2019, dated 10.06.2019, issued by the Dy. BDO, Anthanallur Panchayat Union, Thiruchirapalli District

    1

    1

    Thirumurugan Electricals Chennai

    Lr. No. 617/2019/T3, dated 20.05.2019, issued by the Dy. BDO, Konganapuram Panchayat Union, Salem District

    6. The so-called supplier in item No. 1 is none else but AIADMK

    party Coimbatore District Rural Wing Secretary Mr. Rajan

    Chandrasekar. His company has no previous experience of

    supplying electrical goods but he is close associate of Mr.

    S.P.Velumani. Hence he was awarded contract of supplying LED

    lights. The so called suppliers are neither manufacturers of LED

    lights nor dealers/agency of manufacturing companies of LED lights.

    These so called suppliers purchased these LED lights from open

    wholesale market and supplied the same as the price fixed by the

    State Level Committee.

  • 53

    7. The above-mentioned suppliers from Item No.2 to 11 are not

    at all in anyway connected with supplying electrical goods nor bulbs

    nor LED lights. For example the address of suppliers in Item No. 9,

    10 and 11 would very clearly express whether they are real entities of

    doing business. No GST numbers provided by all the

    aforementioned suppliers. The so-called suppliers from Item No. 4 to

    11, do not have any business entity except lending their names to

    obtain contracts illegally to supply LED lights at the rate of sky high

    price to assist the Minister Mr. S.P.Velumani to swindle the public

    money the assistance of his Administrative Officers. If he had floated

    global tender,the LED lights manufacturers companies such as viz.

    Osram, Philips, Surya, Voltas, Crompton Greaves, Wipro, NTL

    Electronics, etc would have participated and it would be finalized, the

    cost of purchasing LED lights would have been10 times lower to

    replace all old lights to LED lights with technical experts assistance

    to save public money.

    8. The Hon’ble Minister Mr. S.P.Velumani hatched the idea of

    fixing sky high cost of LED lights under his Administrative

    Officers/State Level Committee and drafted the terms of tenders to

    enable his benamis to participate and they were awarded contracts

    to replace old street lights at Village Panchayats at District/Union

    Panchayat level for the fixed sky high price by SLC. When the

    20 Watt LED light cost at Rs.450/- with fittings, the State Level

    Committee fixed the cost Rs. 3,737/- for 2015-16 FY and Rs.4,120/-

    for 2016-17 FY.The 90 watt LED lights available at cost of Rs. 1550/-

    with fittings, the State Level Committee fixed cost of the 90Watt LED

    light at Rs. 14,919/- during 2017-81 FY. His department utilized the

    Rs.811 cr. of State Funds and Rs.69 cr. from District Panchayat

    Funds, totally Rs.875 cr. fund was taken out to replace the old lights

  • 54

    to LED lights at Village Panchayat level. Under this mechanism of

    fixing cost of LED lights and framing terms and conditions of tender

    at District level by State Level Committee and awarding contracts to

    his benamis, he caused great loss to the exchequer to the tune of

    about Rs. 500 cr money and he and the officials of SLC pocketed the

    exchequer money about sum of Rs. 500 cr. in the said 3 financial

    years and caused loss to the Government.

  • 55

    HON’BLE MINISTER FOR ELECTRICITY THIRU. P. THANGAMANI

    A complaint was given by Thiru.R.S. Bharathi on 01.10.2018 against

    the Minister to the Director, Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-

    Corruption.

    There has been no action on the complaint by the Directorate of

    Vigilance and Anti-Corruption till date in violation of the decision of

    the Constitution Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Lalita

    Kumari v State of UP.

    The gist of the allegations in the complaint is as follows:

    A. IMPORT OF COAL

    • Although TANGEDCO had started floating global tenders for

    import of coal, it has not evolved any specific policy for importing

    coal. In the absence of a comprehensive policy, there was no

    direction for key decisions for import, which led to excessive Bid

    Qualification Requirement (BQR), non-adoption of e-tendering and

    variable pricing method for payment of imported coal which was

    taken advantage by Thiru. P. Thangamani who is holding the post of

    Electricity, Prohibition and Excise Minister, by misappropriating funds

    in purchasing coal during non-crushing period at higher rates.

    • Since the time allowed for purchase of tender documents and

    submission by the prospective bidders from the date of publishing of

  • 56

    the tender was gradually reduced from 30 to 10 days without any

    reasons on record, the number of bids received remained at

    three/four throughout, thereby limiting competition. Minimum time

    specified by the competent authority was 15 days as per Rule 20(2)

    of the Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders Rules, 2000 (Tender

    Rules). It is revealed that 30 days of time was not available between

    commencements and closing date of sale of tender document, hence

    the provision of tender rules was not followed.

    • Thus, using this opportunity as a Minister of Electricity, Prohibition

    and Excise Thiru. P. Thangamani exceeded his authority and gave

    contracts to the companies through which he obtained wrongful gain

    and caused wrongful loss to the Government.

  • 57

    B. BIDQUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT (BQR) & INAPPROPRIATE PRICE MANAGMENT

    • The criteria fixed (July 2012) in the BQR for import of coal

    stipulated that the bidder should have supplied one MMT (Million

    Metric Tons) of imported coal during any one of the preceding four

    financial years and have an annual average turnover of 1,000 crore

    during the preceding three financial years. It is noticed that the

    turnover criteria of 1,000 crore was more than the purchase order

    value ranging from 68 crore to 330 crores for Tuticorin Port and

    170 crore to1, 295 crore for Ennore Port. It is noted that the criteria

    fixed (July 2010) by TANGEDCO for all tenders was 25 percent of

    the estimated value of the tender. Moreover, TNPL and NTECL fixed

    turnover criteria of NIL and 281 crores(26 per cent) against their

    value of import of 167 crore and1,092 crore, respectively. This was

    done only with a view to eliminate otherwise eligible contractors and

    to benefit few pre-selected contractors.

    • The import of coal is finalized the competitive prices based on

    (i) E-submission method

    (ii) Reverse Auction method

    (iii) Variable price method

  • 58

    C. CONTRACT MANAGEMENT FOR IMPORT OF COAL

    A. The Government of India policy stipulated that import

    contracts by all Government departments/PSUs are required to be

    finalized on Free on Board (FOB) basis to retain control on

    shipments and to extend maximum cargo support to the Indian

    shipping industry. The policy further stipulated that No Objection

    Certificate (NOC) should be obtained from the Ministry of Shipping,

    Government of India for deviation from FOB basis on each and every

    case. TANGEDCO finalized all coal import contracts on Cost,

    Insurance, Freight (CIF) basis but it did not obtain NOC from the

    Ministry of Shipping, Government of India as required.

    B. As per tender conditions, production of Certificate of Country

    of Origin (COO) by the suppliers for all consignments was mandatory

    for getting concessional customs duty and ensuring the genuineness

    of the import. The tender condition also stipulated that payments

    shall be made by TANGEDCO only upon furnishing of COO by the

    suppliers. The Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India

    on Revenue Sector for the year ended 31 March 2017 revealed that

    176 out of total 297 consignments were originated from Indonesia as

    per Bill of Lading. But the COO was not produced by the suppliers in

    respect of all the 176 consignments. Therefore, the genuineness of

    the source of import was not established in respect of 176

    consignments till October 2017. However, the payment of Rs.

    5,767.31 crores was made to the supplier without obtaining

    mandatory COO. The COO from Government of the exporting

  • 59

    country was not obtained in all the 176 consignments which were

    mandatory as per the TANGEDCO’s tender conditions.

    D. IMPORT OF LOW-GRADE COAL

    A. As per the tender conditions, the Gross Calorific Value

    (GCV) of the imported coal was required to be at 6,000 Kcal/Kg with

    an acceptable range between 5,800 and 6,700 Kcal/Kg. While there

    is no premium for GCV exceeding 6,000 Kcal/Kg, for GCV lower than

    6,000 Kcal/Kg, the price was to be adjusted as per the formula

    specified in the tender.

    B. To ensure GCV of the coal supplied as per tender conditions,

    supplier was required to engage independent testing agency with the

    approval of TANGEDCO. The quality of coal is decided based on the

    reports of these testing agencies. The verification of quality testing in

    other PSUs (Public Sector Undertaking) revealed that:

    � TNPL selected the testing agency for each consignment of coal

    from its empanelled testing agencies through a lot system and coal

    samples were collected from the automatic coal sampler installed in

    the conveyor at the TNPL plant.

    � TNECL (Tamil Nadu Energy Company Limited) also selected the

    testing agency from its empaneled testing agencies.

    � The quality of coal would be finally decided by both TNPL and

    TNECL based on the test conducted at their own laboratories in their

    plants.

  • 60

    C. The independent verification of the coal quality test reports

    from the laboratory of the Customs Department in respect of 121

    consignments of TANGEDCO revealed that GCV was lesser than

    that of the discharge port laboratory test reports submitted by the

    suppliers. TANGEDCO had accepted lower grade of coal as revealed

    in the customs test reports but it made payment for coal having GCV

    as per the test results submitted by the suppliers’ testing laboratory

    and made excess payment of Rs 813.68 crore.

    D. Thus Thiru. P. Thangamani being a Minister of Electricity,

    Prohibition and Excise abusing his position as a public servant has

    engaged in corruption by colluding with TANGEDCO officials by

    importing lower grade of coal with intent to misappropriate funds to

    the tune of Rs.813.68 crore.

  • 61

    E. EID PARRY CONTRACT

    A. TANGEDCO’s termination of PPA (Power Purchase

    Agreement) in respect of EID Parry (East India Distilleries) was

    illegal as it was aware that the power generated by EID Parry was

    made available for sale under STOA (Short Term Open Access)

    routes at the prices ranging from Rs 5.05 to Rs 5.50 per unit, which

    was more than the prevailing rates fixed by TNERC for crushing

    season ranging from Rs 3.52 to Rs 3.99 per unit.

    B. The price for purchase of power from EID Parry as per the

    tariff fixed during 2015 – 2016 and 2016 – 2017, 2017 – 2018 are as

    follows:

    SI.NO.

    YEAR RATE OF POWER TARIFFDURINGCRUSHING SEASON(DECEMBER TOJUNE)

    RATE OF POWER TARIFF DURING

    NON - CRUSHING SEASON

    (JULY TO NOVEMBER)

    PRICE PER UNIT

    1. 2015 – 2016 3.52 5.15 3.52

    2. 2016 – 2017 3.99 5.40 3.99

    3. 2017 - 2018 4.12 - 4.12

  • 62

    C. The purchase of 66.06 MU of power produced by EID Parry

    during crushing season at the rates higher than the prevailing rates,

    which worked out to Rs 10.90 crore. After the termination of the PPA

    with EID parry, TANGEDCO purchased power during the period from

    November 2015 to May 2016 on need basis through STOA route.

    The purchase of power through STOA route was made at the price

    more than the price fixed by TNERC for crushing season and

    TANGEDCO intended to purchase surplus power through STOA

    route only during Non-crushing season, but it purchased power at

    higher rates both during crushing and Non-crushing seasons.

    D. Thus, Thiru. P.Thangamani violated the rules of TNERC

    (Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission) by purchasing 66.06

    MU (Million Unit) of power from EID parry at the rates higher than the

    notified rates and incurred wrongful loss of Rs 10.90 Crores to

    TANGEDCO.

    I submit that all the above findings are reflected in Report of the

    Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Revenue Sector for the

    year ended 31 March 2017.

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    F. CORRUPTION IN PURCHASE OF SPARE PARTS - M/s. BHEL

    (BHARATH HEAVY ELECTRICALS LIMITED)

    A. A contract was placed on M/s.BHEL, Chennai by

    TANGEDCO for design, engineering, manufacture, assembly,

    supply, erection, testing and commissioning of complete coal fired

    thermal power plant including all mechanical, electrical,

    civil/structural/architectural, control and instrumentation works for the

    establishment of North Chennai Thermal Power Station – II (NCTPS)

    with capacity ranging from 2x500MW to 500+20%MW within the

    existing NCTPS complex for a value of Rs2,475 Crore and Rs 2,175

    Crore for unit I & II respectively.

    B. As per the general terms and conditions of the contract, the

    Contractor shall guarantee that the equipment being supplied under

    this contract shall be new and of first quality work man ship and shall

    have no defect in m