Chennai, Feb 15 (BPNS)
A special court for cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act ordered the attachment of fixed deposits of over Rs 110 crore, allegedly belonging to former Tamil Nadu Minister, S.P.Velumani. The fixed deposits were in the name of firms of his associates.
He was a Minister for municipal administration, rural development, law, and implementation of special programmes in the previous AIADMK government led by Edappadi K. Palaniswami.
The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) police had registered an FIR against the former minister and 16 others following an order of the Madras High Court.
The DVAC had conducted raids at several places attached to the former minister on August 10th and 11th last year and seized several documents including fixed deposit receipts.
In January 2022, the DVAC had filed an application with the special court to attach two properties in the name of KCP infra Ltd, formerly KCP Engineers Pvt Ltd and Aalam Gold and Diamonds Pvt Ltd. The premier agency of the Tamil Nadu police informed the court that huge deposits to the tune of 109, 12,20,174 crore rupees were in the name of KCP Infra Ltd and 1, 81, 000,00 in the name of Aalam Gold and Diamonds Private Ltd.
DVAC also said that the amounts were suspected to be part of crime proceeds, alleged to have been committed by the former minister and his associates in awarding contracts in Chennai and Coimbatore corporations.
The agency also said that on scrutiny of the bank accounts it was found that the money was invested in fixed bank deposits and found it necessary to freeze the accounts to avoid liquidation of these funds.
The special court judge J. Omprakash ordered an ad-Interim attachment of the properties after hearing the arguments of both sides.
