DMK approaches Madras HC against ED on inaction in PMLA case involving former AIADMK ministers

Turning the heat on the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the ruling DMK has approached Madras High Court seeking a direction to the Central agency to register cases against former AIADMK ministers under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and proceed with investigation.

The DMK has been charging the ED with dereliction of duty and inaction in proceeding against seven former AIADMK ministers and party functionaries due to political consideration despite FIRs and materials revealing generation of proceeds of crime. Now, with assembly elections at hand, DMK Rajya Sabha MP, R Girirajan has filed nine individual petitions in the High Court.

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In his petitions, the DMK MP who recalled the recent direction of the High Court to register FIR against a sitting minister in the DMK government on the basis of materials shared by the ED, expressed surprise at the ED not taking a similar action against the former AIADMK ministers and functionaries even though they had been booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA). Despite the existence of prima facie material against them for generating proceeds of crime, the ED not filing Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) is an act of dereliction of statutory duty, he submitted.

The FIRs registered by the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) for misappropriation of public funds and large scale corruption against the seven AIADMK Ministers: SP Velumani, P Thangamani, C Vijaya Bhaskar, MR Vijayabhaskar and R Kamaraj, KC Veeramani and KP Anbazhagan as well as former legislator B Sathyanarayanan @ T Nagar Sathya and former president of Salem Central Co-operative Bank, R Ilangovan, clearly come under the scheduled offences under the PMLA, the DMK MP maintained.

Despite the existence of such predicate offences and availability of substantial materials clearly indicating generation of proceeds of crime and submission of representations, Girirajan submitted that the ED had not registered ECIR, thereby failing in the discharge of its statutory duty. According to him, this dereliction of duty is a violation of Article 21 of the Constitution. Referring to the AIADMK’s alliance with the BJP, heading the Union Government, he said the ED’s continued inaction gives rise to reasonable apprehension that political considerations have influenced the central agency.