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Tamil Nadu’s minister for higher education K Ponmudy (73) has become the ruling party’s first sitting minister to be sentenced for corruption to date. The Madras high court (HC) on Thursday sentenced the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader and his wife, P Visalakshi (60) to a three-year jail term and imposed a fine of ₹50 lakh for gathering disproportionate assets worth ₹1.75-crore. The HC bench of Justice G Jayachandran suspended their sentence for a month to allow them to appeal in the Supreme Court.
On December 19, the high court set aside the couple’s acquittal by a special court (for cases against MPs/MLAs) in Villupuram in 2016. Tamil Nadu’s anti-graft agency, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) filed an appeal against the lower court’s order in the high court in 2017. The single judge bench came down heavily on the trial court for splitting the two accused as separate entities, and described this as a “misadventure” and a “cause for the miscarriage of justice.” The court held that aiding a public servant to hold on to his ill-gotten money was an illegal act.
The conviction is a blow for the senior DMK leader as well as the party. Under the Representation of People Act, 1951, Ponmudy not only loses his post as MLA of the Thirukoyyilur constituency, but he is also prevented from contesting for the next six years after his jail term is over. A few hours after the judgement, chief minister M K Stalin led the state government to transfer his portfolio of higher education to his cabinet colleague R S Rajakanappan.
The minister and his parliamentarian son Gautham Sigamnai are also under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate which questioned them earlier this year over the issuance of red sand mining licences at five locations. The federal agency claimed that the licences were issued illegally by Ponmudy, who was the minister for mines between 2007 and 2011.
Why was Pondmudy convicted?
Ponmudy, a six-time legislator, and his wife were booked in 2011 by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The accumulation of assets took place between 2006 and 2011 when Ponmudy was minister for mines in the then DMK regime, the state-run agency alleged. The DMK lost the 2011 assembly elections and archrivals All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) led by the late J Jayalalithaa formed the government. The same year, the DVAC registered a disproportionate assets case against Ponmudy and his wife.
In 2016, the couple was acquitted by a special court (for cases against MPs/MLAs) in Villupuram, following which the anti-graft agency filed an appeal in the HC. On December 19, the court overturned their acquittal.
The DVAC report, submitted in 2012, stated that between April 2006 and May 2010, Ponmudy and Visalakshi acquired assets that were 65.99% more than their known source of income. When asked, they could not satisfactorily explain the source.
The prosecution brought in 39 witnesses and examined 85 exhibits in the trial in the special court. The defence did not examine any witnesses. However, the Villupuram special court acquitted both the accused in April 2016. The then AIADMK-led government filed a criminal appeal challenging the acquittal.
In the high court, N R Elango, senior counsel appearing for Ponmudy, argued that the case was due to political vendetta and the investigation was lopsided and biased. “The trial Court, on considering the materials, had rightly concluded that the charges were not proved. This is not a mere possible view or probable view but the correct view based on the evidence. Hence, needs no interference,” the senior counsel submitted.
Separating the couple was a “misadventure”
The high court, hearing the appeal, came down heavily on the trial court for splitting the two accused as separate entities describing it as a “misadventure” and the” cause for the miscarriage of justice.” Aiding a public servant to hold his ill-gotten money was an illegal act, and hid him from the scrutiny of the law enforcing agency, the court said.
“A complete miscarriage of justice had occurred by the omission of reliable evidence and by mis-interpretation of the evidence,” said Justice Jayachandran on Tuesday. “This Court considering the overwhelming evidence against the respondents and the unsustainable reasons given by the trial Court for acquittal by ignoring those evidence compel this court to declare the judgement of the trial Court is palpably wrong, manifestly erroneous and demonstrably unsustainable. Hence, this is a fit case for the Appellate Court to interfere and set it aside.”
Ponmudy and Visalakshi, who were present before Justice Jayachandran on Thursday, were given a month to file an appeal before the apex court. Their counsel, Elango said that the DMK’s legal team would immediately file an appeal in the Supreme Court.
What does this mean for Ponmudy’s career?
Ponmundy, born as Deivasigamani, is a four-time legislator from Villupuram district. The six-time MLA won his first assembly election in 1989 before joining the DMK’s youth wing.
Besides his troubles with the state anti-graft agency, he is also under the radar of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The federal agency arrested DMK minister V Senthil Balaji in June, and questioned Ponmudy and his son Gautham Sigamnai, an MP from Kallakurichi district, in July.
The ED said that its probe, in this case, revolves around an “alleged issuance of red sand mining licences at five locations illegally by Ponmudy, who was the minister for mines” between 2007 and 2011. The ED has said that Ponmudi had issued illegal licences for red sand mining to his son, relatives and some benami holders, and that a huge amount of hawala funds generated from this mining business was used to purchase companies abroad.
“The proceeds obtained from illegal mining were deposited in benami accounts and were layered through multiple transactions and accounts,” the agency said.
In November, the ED filed an affidavit in the Madras high court that proceeds from illegal mining in Tamil Nadu over the last couple of years amounted to more than ₹4,730 crore. The state’s officially recorded revenue from sand mining was only ₹36 crore, the agency pointed out.
Ponmudy is also facing another corruption case taken up suo moto by Madras HC Justice Anand Venkatesh, who was handling the MP/MLA portfolio. The justice is looking into revisions of acquittals against six politicians, including sitting ministers. He re-opened Ponmudy’s case first on August 10. Following a roster change, Justice Jayachandran continued hearing these cases.
The Supreme Court refused to entertain pleas filed by Ponmudy and his wife against Justice Venkatesh for taking up the case. “Thank God we have judges like Justice Anand Venkatesh in our system,” said a bench, led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud in November.
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