The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has vehemently opposed the petitions filed by former Municipal Administration Minister S.P. Velumani in the Madras High Court to quash two First Information Reports (FIRs) registered against him by the DVAC units in Chennai and Coimbatore.
He had been accused of indulging in corrupt practices in the award of corporation contracts and amassing several hundred crores of rupees between 2014 and 2021.
In counter-affidavits filed before the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice N. Mala, who were seized of the quash petitions, the DVAC said that only the FIR registered by its special investigation cell in Chennai on August 9, 2021, was based upon complaints filed by non-governmental organisation (NGO) Arappor Iyakkam and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) organising secretary R.S. Bharathi in 2018.
The counters, filed through Advocate-General R. Shunmugasundaram, said the other FIR was booked suo motu by the Coimbatore unit of the DVAC on March 14, 2022, on the basis of “credible information” collected by the agency. Since only the FIR booked on the basis of complaints received from the NGO and the DMK leader were a subject matter of cases pending before the High Court, the former Minister could not seek to quash the other FIR, too, the DVAC argued.
It also contended that petitions for quashing FIRs must be pursued only before a single judge of the High Court and not before a Division Bench, which was seized of a public interest litigation petition filed by the NGO in 2018. Further, it was brought to the notice of the court that the 2021 FIR was registered also in the light of the 2020 report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General who had made adverse remarks on the award of corporation contracts.
The 2021 FIR read that Velumani was actually a registered contractor of the Coimbatore Municipal Corporation between 1991 and 2001. He had started a firm, called P. Senthil and Co., along with his family members. However, he resigned from the firm in 2001 to contest in the Assembly election held that year. In May 2014, he assumed charge as the Municipal Administration Minister and abused his position in award of contracts by the Greater Chennai and Coimbatore Corporations.
The FIR alleged that firms run by his close associates were awarded contracts worth ₹464.02 crore by the Greater Chennai Corporation and ₹346.81 crore by the Coimbatore Corporation between 2014 and 2018. While awarding those tenders, Corporation officials too had blatantly violated the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders Act, 1998, because they were acting under the influence and directions of the then Minister, the FIR claimed.
Further, the 2022 FIR registered by the Coimbatore Unit of the DVAC alleged that the former Minister had entered into a criminal conspiracy with his associates and plundered the public money through fraudulent award of contracts. A discreet verification by the agency revealed that he had illicitly acquired properties worth several crores of rupees in his name as well as in the names of his family members between 2016 and 2021.
Stating that he and his family members had gone on several trips to Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, the UAE, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Australia, the DVAC said the family’s total declared assets were only worth ₹1.03 crore as on April 27, 2016. However, on March 15, 2021, they had declared assets worth ₹58.94 crore. Further, the ill-gotten wealth had been routed to various private firms, including a few jewellers who had shown it as their income by inflating their sales volume.
