Tamil Nadu: ED questions Tasmac MD, wife for hours in Rs 1000 cr money laundering case

CHENNAI: The Enforcement Directorate on Friday conducted fresh searches in connection with the Rs 1000 crore Tasmac-linked money laundering case and S Visakan, the managing director of Tasmac, and his wife were taken in for questioning, officials said.

About 10 locations linked to Tasmac officials and agents – including Visakan's Manapakkam residence and premises linked to film producer Akash Baskaran of Dawn Pictures, a tech firm awarded government contracts and others – were searched in Chennai under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, they said. Some hawala operators and cash collection agents are also being searched, they added.

The federal agency, however, has not released an official statement regarding the searches.

In a dramatic turn of events, Visakan, an IAS officer, was questioned for hours at his Manapakkam residence. Later, he and his wife were taken to the ED office in Nungambakkam for further questioning. While his wife was allowed to leave by 5 pm, Viskakan's interrogation continued.

Incorporated in 1983, Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited (Tasmac) is "wholly owned" by the Tamil Nadu government and has its registered office in Chennai. It is vested with the exclusive rights for wholesale supply of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and beer in the state with 43 depots and nearly 5,000 retail units spread across the state.

The federal probe agency had conducted the first set of raids in this case in March.

The Madras High Court in April had dismissed three writ petitions filed by the Tamil Nadu government to declare the ED searches and seizure action, carried out by it at the corporations' headquarters between March 6 and 8 as part of a money laundering case, as illegal.

It also dismissed the TN government's claim of "political vendetta" by the ED in the case, saying the "best judges to decide the case of politics would be the people of our great nation."

"Eventually, what matters the most is the 'will of the people'," it had said.

The ED, after the first round of searches, had said in a press statement that alleged irregularities in the operations of Tasmac were found, including "manipulation" in the tender processes and "unaccounted" cash transactions of Rs 1,000 crore through distillery companies.

It claimed finding "incriminating" data related to transfer postings, transport and bar licence tenders, indent orders "favouring" few distillery companies, excess charge of Rs 10-30 per bottle by Tasmac outlets, with the "involvement" of Tasmac officials, during the March searches.