Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi, kingpins of corruption
Geoff WIJESINGHE
Chief Minister Jayalatliha and Karnanidhi, the octogenarian who
carries out his mafia style operations from a wheel chair are according
to media reports the most corrupt individuals in Tamil Nadu. They resort
to rabble rousing and stone throwing at Lankan pilgrims in order to
divert attention of the voters of their incompetence and monumental
corruption.
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Jayalaitha once an attractive film star who sent fans’ hearts
aflutter and who had the patronage of a powerful Chief Minister became
Chief Minister although she was a novice politician, she has managed to
survive. Today, at 65 years of age, she is fat and matronly.
Corruption charges
The corruption charges against Karnanidhi are so many that he is
often referred in the Indian media as the king of corruption. He was
accused of supporting the LTTE and was indicted which fact was included
in the interim report of the investigation into Rajiv Gandhi’s
assassination.
The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu has a staggering 46 corruption cases
against her. Amongst the various scams were the Rs.70 million coal
import scam, Tansi land deal case, case of disproportionate assets and
colour TV case, amongst many others. A raid in her residence and
business establishments led to the seizure of some 28 kg of jewellery
(worth Rs 51 crore), 91 wrist-watches, 41 air-conditioners, 10,500
sarees, 750 pairs of shoes, etc. She along with her former cabinet
colleagues and senior bureaucrats who worked with her are still facing
investigation with regard to corruption.
New Delhi: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and her
confidante, Sasikala Natarajan, will continue to face criminal
proceedings for alleged corruption, the Supreme Court said today.Ms
Jayalalithaa has appeared in a court in Bangalore twice last year to
answer several hundred questions put to her, along with Ms Sasikala.
It was Ms Sasikala who had asked the Supreme Court to suspend the
trial because she has not been given documents that she requested from
the trial court, according to her lawyers. The Supreme Court refused to
intervene.
Sasikala has also filed an application challenging the jurisdiction
of the Bengaluru court to conduct the trial.The petition says the judge
B. M. Mallikarjuniah was not appointed by a notification as required
under Section 3 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Only Special Judges
are competent to try such corruption cases. The present judge, the
petitioner claims, was appointed by a routine administrative order.
Ms Jayalalitha has been accused of misusing her earlier term in
office from 1991 to 1996 to benefit herself and friends like Ms
Sasikala.
The Chief Minister asked Ms Sasikala to move out of her home, and
expelled her from her party, the AIADMK, for allegedly interfering with
postings of bureaucrats. However, the women reconciled recently. Rival
party DMK has alleged that the estrangement was a ruse to distance the
Chief Minister from the corruption case, and an attempt to make Ms
Sasikala the scapegoat.
Karunanidhi has amassed wealth beyond wildest imagination for a man
who ‘landed in Chennai with a Steel trunk’. His Family Tree shall make
Royal Court of Arms wince. His method of creating benamis
(beneficiaries) is to be seen to be believed - wife, companions, sons,
daughters, grandsons, granddaughters, nephews, nieces, sister, sisters’
son-in-laws, son-in-law, son in law’s parents, his next in command in
the party, party men, bureaucrats, drivers, peons and cooks.
He has a Trust in his parent’s name which he controls indirectly. His
kin have been acquiring educational institutions and real estate on a
large-scale.
He owns industries indirectly. To know more please read my blog filed
under ‘Corruption’ How has he become such a power in Tamil Nadu?
He has a TV Network - Kalaignar TV, from which he withdrew in public
but his wife holds shares.
His grand sons control the film industry having production and
distribution Houses-Red Giant Movies, Cloud Nine movies-his nephew
production House Sun Movies. Sun TV Network is controlled by his
sister’s son at the top and Bangalore Operations are controlled by his
son in law.
Land and property
This week, continuing its campaign against out-of-turn allotments of
land and property, TEHELKA has an exposé on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M
Karunanidhi. The Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) which commands a large
land bank, has a government discretionary quota (GDQ) under which 15
percent of all allotments can be recommended by the CM.
Eligibility for allotment under GDQ is as follows: single/deserted
women; widows; social workers; physically handicapped persons; defence
personnel; ex-servicemen; eminent persons in the field of science, arts,
literature, economics, public administration and sports; freedom
fighters; government servants with unblemished service records;
employees of PSUs, central government undertakings and nationalised
banks; PF institutions; journalists; university staff; and employees of
local bodies and municipalities.
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While some of these categories sound kosher, most of them raise a
fundamental question: why should the government have the power to give
coveted land to select employees and journalists over others? The only
rationale could be proximity — which is an untenable reason for being
the beneficiary of political favours, often worth several crores.
Perhaps the starkest example of a family member whose phenomenal
growth started completely outside democratic space is Azhagiri,
Karunanidhi’s second son, now the Union Chemicals and Fertilisers
Minister.
The 62-year-old contested his first election only in 2009, from the
Madurai constituency. What looked like a political debut, however, was
only a legitimisation of his iron grip over the southern districts for
more than 30 years. In the recently leaked phone taps that exposed the
2G spectrum scam, TN Information Technology Minister Poongothai Aladi
Aruna, speaking to telecom lobbyist Niira Radia, referred to Azahagiri
as “a cut-throat politician”.
It all started with a banishment. In the early 1980s, Karunanidhi had
sent Azhagiri, then a bank employee, to Madurai, which was his wife
Kanthi’s home town.
He was to run the Madurai edition of the DMK mouthpiece Murasoli, but
was given no say in editorial decisions. He soon lost interest and
directed his energies to other profitable ventures. Visibly, Azhagiri
now runs a TV channel, a cable service provider (Royal Video), a wedding
hall and a huge showroom of silk textiles. But covertly, he also
controls the muscle power and moneybags that run the city — the
contractors, brokers and land mafia. “Do you know how many stories I’ve
written about people who’ve been threatened, harassed or killed after
going to the police or court to challenge Azhagiri and his associates?”
asks Idaya, a Madurai based Tamil journalist. “After a point, I realised
that there is no point in criticising the king in his own court.”
Kangaroo courts
As Azhagiri unleashed his kangaroo courts, extortion rackets and
henchmen on Madurai, election after election, the city’s largely working
class population kept voting CPM candidates to the Lok Sabha, and the
AIADMK to the legislature. “Azhagiri used to say that Madurai was being
run by the wrong parties,” says TKS Elangovan, senior DMK leader and
Rajya Sabha MP. In 1996, when the DMK swept the state, Azhagiri didn’t
waste any time. “He used this opportunity to strengthen the DMK cadre in
the south,” says Elangovan. When asked to elaborate on Azhagiri’s modus
operandi, Elangovan grins broadly. “Hard work and charisma,” he says.
A long list of Election Commission notices to the Madurai wing of the
DMK is less circumspect. It has found Azhagiri’s men guilty of dropping
sealed envelopes with Rs. 500 notes in voters’ letter boxes (four notes
for four voters) and his cable operators offering six months free usage
to subscribers. Cartons of saris were found stored in the house of
Azhagiri’s right-hand man, to be distributed at a rally.
Weekly biriyani feasts were being held in slums, and women were being
given cash coupons or pamphlets that could be exchanged for Rs. 100 at
DMK offices. Before every election, goons were making door-to-door
visits with sickles hanging down their backs. If anyone dared to
protest, their land was confiscated and their vehicles destroyed. While
his men lashed through Madurai, Azhagiri himself cultivated the manner
of a benevolent regional don with the dangerous unpredictability of a
Sonny Corleone. Several Madurai-based bureaucrats, all of whom requested
anonymity, admitted to having received death threats directly from
Azhagiri in his pre-ministerial days. “If I didn’t give the tenders to
the men he wanted me to, he would smile softly, look at his henchmen,
and leave the room,” says a senior PWD employee. “It was the scariest
thing in the world.”
After signing a deal to acquire 37.73 percent stake in budget carrier
SpiceJet, Sun TV Network promoter Kalanithi Maran on Monday made the
mandatory open offer to buy another 20 percent from the public at Rs
57.76 per share. The offer has been made by Kal Airways, promoted by
Maran and his wife Kareri, based on the two-week average daily high and
low price of SpiceJet equity shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE),
where it is listed, the managers to the issue said.
Some interesting facts also emerged from the open offer made on
Monday:
* Kalanidhi Maran’s net worth was Rs 13,384 crore ($2.97 billion) as
on June 10
* The new promoters propose to change the name of SpiceJet after
acquisition and shift its registered office away from Gurgaon
* They have, however, undertaken not to sell any substantial asset of
the airline
* SpiceJet was previously called Genius Leasing, M.G. Express,
Modiluft and Royal Airways
* The airline has now been given permission overseas to Bangladesh,
the Maldives and Nepal.
Commenting on the deal, Jagannadham Thunuguntla, equities head at
leading brokerage SMC Capitals, said SpiceJet was among few airlines in
India and globally which was running profitably.
“In the future if the government relaxes foreign investment norms for
airlines, then SpiceJet can become a target for acquisition for a
foreign carrier, netting the promoters a handsome premium,” Thunuguntla
told IANS.
He said apart from the profits, which amounted to Rs 61.44 crore in
the year ended March 31, the carrier can also fly abroad. In this
regard, the Sun Network brand can capitalise on the large south Indian
diaspora in East Asia.
Maran’s SUN TV Network boasts 20 channels that reach 95 million
households in India. It also beams to 27 overseas destinations with
large South Indian diaspora including the US, Canada, Europe, Singapore,
Malaysia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
This apart, in its quest to be called a complete media and
entertainment company, it runs 45 FM radio stations, two daily
newspapers with a circulation of 1.2 million, four magazines and a
direct-to-home satellite TV service with 5.5 million subscribers. Its
cinema arm makes at least eight movies every year, several of them with
one of the biggest budgets for Indian films.
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