Rs 811 Crore Graft Case: TN Anti-Corruption Dept Freezes Former Minister Velumani's Bank Accounts

Velumani, one of the powerful ministers in the AIADMK regime, and 16 other individuals and business firms were booked for irregularities committed in issuing contracts between 2014 and 2018.

Chennai: After conducting search operations on the premises of former AIADMK minister SP Velumani and his close aides, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption froze the bank accounts of the former minister on Thursday. Velumani has been booked in a Rs 811-crore tender fraud case. 

Velumani, who is considered to be one of the most powerful ministers in the AIADMK regime, along with 16 other individuals and business firms were booked on Monday for irregularities committed in issuing contracts between 2014 and 2018. Among the accused were P Anbarasan, Velumani’s brother, KCP Engineers Private Limited, its managing director K Chandraprakash and its director and shareholder K Chandrasekar. 

The FIR was registered based on a complaint filed by DMK's Rajya Sabha member RS Bharathi, and Arappor Iyakkam, a Chennai-based anti-corruption watchdog.  

The very next day, DVAC sleuths commenced their simultaneous search operations at 60 properties at multiple places, including in Chennai and Coimbatore. The searches continued on certain premises for the second consecutive day on Wednesday. 

According to a report in The Times of India, the accused had managed to win tenders worth Rs 464 crore in the Greater Chennai Corporation and more worth Rs 346.8 crore in the Coimbatore Corporation. Authorities had violated the Tamil Nadu Transparency Act, Transparency in Tenders Rules, guidelines of Central Vigilance Commission and the engineering manual of Tamil Nadu while floating tenders and issuing contracts. Violations were also found at other stages such as bidding, negotiation and execution of work. 

Quoting an official statement by DVAC, the report further said sleuths had seized Rs 13.08 lakh in cash, land registration documents, business firms’ transaction documents, fixed deposits of Rs 2 crore, official records of corporations, electronic hard discs among others. 

DVAC froze the bank accounts of Velumani following the search operations, ABP Nadu reported.