CHENNAI: PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss on Tuesday urged the Tamil Nadu government to grant sanction to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to prosecute former Minister V Senthil Balaji in the alleged cash-for-jobs scam linked to recruitment in State transport corporations.
In a statement, he said the ED had sought the State government’s permission to proceed with the money laundering case against Senthil Balaji over the alleged illegal transfer of funds collected from job aspirants by promising employment in transport corporations. He termed the move as a welcome step aimed at ensuring probity in governance.
Anbumani Ramadoss said the Chennai Central Crime Branch had registered a case alleging that during his tenure as Transport Minister between 2011 and 2015, Senthil Balaji had collected crores of rupees from thousands of people by promising jobs such as drivers, conductors, technical staff and engineers in State transport undertakings.
Based on the predicate offence, the ED had registered a money laundering case against Senthil Balaji and others, including his brother, alleging illegal transfer of proceeds generated through the recruitment scam. The case is pending before a special court in Chennai. He noted that Senthil Balaji had spent 410 days in prison after being arrested in connection with the case.
He alleged that trial proceedings in the money laundering case had not commenced as the previous DMK government had refused to grant sanction for prosecution, though approval from the government was mandatory for prosecuting former Ministers.
Anbumani Ramadoss said the ED had initially approached former Governor R. N. Ravi on May 14 last year seeking sanction to prosecute Senthil Balaji. However, the request was rejected on the ground that the agency should directly approach the State government. Following this, the ED has now written to Chief Secretary M. Sai Kumar with supporting documents seeking approval, he added.
Claiming that Senthil Balaji had admitted to collecting money from job aspirants and had informed the Madras High Court that he had returned money to several victims, the PMK leader said there was evidence of illegal transfer of the proceeds generated through the scam. He alleged that the former Minister should not be allowed to escape accountability under the protection extended by the previous DMK government.
Referring to the election manifesto of the ruling TVK government led by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, Anbumani Ramadoss said the party had promised zero tolerance towards corruption. He urged the government to act in accordance with that commitment by granting sanction for commencement of trial in the money laundering case against Senthil Balaji.