Friday, September 17, 2021

Value of DA assets much more: NGO


Value of DA assets much more: NGO

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:17.09.2021

The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) has estimated AIADMK former minister and Jolarpet strongman K C Veeramani’s disproportionate assets to be worth ₹28 crore. But the worth of the assets would have been much more had the agency ran checks for the past decade, said NGO Arappor Iyakkam.

The NGO had submitted a complaint to the DVAC a month ago stating that Veeramani has disproportionate assets worth ₹76 crore based on publicly available papers such as election affidavits and land registration documents. The fundamental difference is the check period considered by the agency, said Jayaram Venkatesan, convenor of Arappor Iyakkam.

In their complaint, Arappor had considered Veeramani and his family’s assets from 2011, which is when he became MLA. The DVAC’s check period is only from 2016, which was Veeramani’s second consecutive term as MLA and minister. “The FIR would have been more fool proof if DVAC had considered from 2011, when so much proof is available. The assets disproportionate to the known sources of income would have been bigger,” Jayaram said.

This would also be an issue legally, Jayaram said, explaining that this way only the assets acquired illegally from 2016 could be confiscated. The social activist said the FIR as such was still strong enough for the state government to get a conviction.

In their complaint last month, Arappor had included assets such as hotels, agricultural land, cars, high-end trucks and gold declared in the names of Veeramani, his wife, children and another relative who has been named as a dependent. It also submitted evidence of several fraudulent land deals. Veeramani had then denied all allegations to TOI, stating that he came from an extremely rich family and owned highend cars even in the 1970s. “I have not lied in my affidavits,” he had told TOI then.

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