CHENNAI: In the first real sign of trouble for the opposition DMK, the Directorate of Enforcement has written to the new administration headed by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, seeking permission to prosecute influential DMK leader, V Senthilbalaji, in an alleged cash-for-jobs scam when he was the minister in the then J Jayalalithaa government between 2011-16.
The move has come merely days after the change of guard at the State and less than three months after the previous government denied sanction.
Although the ED has filed a prosecution complaint before the special PMLA court in Chennai, the trial has not yet begun as the mandatory sanction from the State government is still pending.
In a three-page letter dated May 15 addressed to Chief Secretary M Saikumar, the central agency noted that its earlier sanction request sent to the then Governor on May 14, 2025, was returned on February 23 this year following the State government’s directive.
Last October, the then chief secretary had informed the Governor that only the State government was the competent authority to grant prosecution sanction of a public servant, and that the ED should have approached the chief secretary directly.
In its latest communication, the ED has enclosed all relevant evidence, a confidential investigation note, and a copy of the prosecution complaint on a pen drive. The chief secretary’s office has acknowledged receipt of the letter.
In its latest communication, the agency accused the previous DMK government of deliberately delaying sanction because Senthilbalaji was a member of the ruling party and Cabinet. The ED has urged the TVK-led State government to grant immediate approval so the court can formally commence trial.
The alleged scam took place between 2011 and 2016, when Senthilbalaji (who was then in the AIADMK) served as the Transport Minister. Based on a Chennai CCB FIR on complaints that candidates seeking jobs in the Transport Department were forced to pay bribes, the ED registered a money laundering case against Senthilbalaji, his brother RV Ashok Kumar, and three personal assistants.
Senthilbalaji, who had shifted allegiance to the DMK in 2018, was arrested in June 2023 and spent more than a year in prison before being granted bail by the Supreme Court on September 26, 2024. He was again appointed a minister on September 29 and was assigned the same portfolios of Electricity, Prohibition and Excise in the MK Stalin cabinet.