Vigilance searches premises of two former AIADMK ministers in TN

Scenes outside #SPVelumani‘s residence. DVAC has registered a case against the #AIADMK leader for allegedly awarding tenders injudiciously to his close companies causing loss to the exchequer of approx Rs 500 crore in replacing street lights with LED lights in rural areas. pic.twitter.com/MClaan4zDK

— Janardhan Koushik (@koushiktweets) September 13, 2022

The case registered against Velumani is about the replacement of some 8-lakh streetlights with LED lights in rural areas, a project that had an estimated cost of Rs 300 crore during the 2015-16 financial year. The then municipal administration minister and one who was considered the most powerful in Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami’s cabinet, Velumani had allegedly “hatched a plan to swindle public money in the name of replacing the old streetlights with LED lights in villages under the guise of reducing electricity consumption and annual maintenance of streetlights…”, says the FIR registered in the case.

The FIR says Velumani had constituted a state-level committee to fix the cost of LED lights for each financial year and that tailor-made tenders prepared by this committee had favoured the men of Velumani to get contracts for replacing lights. The suppliers of 20W and 90W LED lights in the tender were either fake or had no experience in the electrical business as they were “nothing but benami entities of Velumani”, it adds.

The FIR says the committee appointed by Velumani had fixed for the LED lights a rate much higher than what was prevailing in the market, leading to a Rs 500 crore (approx) loss to the exchequer.

An FIR filed on Monday against Vijayabaskar said he, using his powers as the then health minister, issued a “falsified essentiality certificate” to Vels Medical College Hospital in Tiruvallur to certify “as if a full-fledged 250-bed hospital has been functioning” even as it was at the construction stage.

“However, in contrast, it was only in the stage of incomplete construction of the hospital building,” the FIR says, adding that Vijayabaskar “along with the Director of Medical Services, obtained undue pecuniary advantage from the management of Vels Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced Studies (Deemed to be University), Pallavaram, Chennai, and forced the inspection authorities to give a false report as if the hospital was functioning and, based on the above false report, the essentiality certificate for starting a new medical college was issued.”

AIADMK interim chief K Palaniswami alleged the searches were held to “divert” Opposition attention from the revised power tariff that came into effect last week.