The prosecution in the Jayalalithaa disproportionate assets case completed its final arguments before the Special Court here on Monday, 17 years after filing the charge sheet.
Now, the court will begin hearing of final arguments on behalf of the accused — Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, V.K. Sasikala, V.N. Sudhakaran and J. Ilavarasi.
Special Public Prosecutor G. Bhavani Singh and his assistant, M.S. Maradi, contended that documents and material submitted to the court along with the charge sheet filed in 1997 clearly established the corruption charges levelled against Ms. Jayalalithaa.
It was contended that Ms. Jayalalithaa, with the aid of the other accused, amassed wealth during her chief ministership between July 1, 1991 and April 30, 1996 and deposited the money by acquiring property in the name of 32 “shell” companies.
The prosecution pointed out that the value of Ms. Jayalalithaa’s assets on April 30, 1996 was Rs. 64.44 crore as against the value of her assets of Rs. 2.01 crore on July 1, 1991.
And her expenditure during this period was Rs. 11.56 crore against her income of Rs. 2.22 crore. Hence, the prosecution contended that the assets disproportionate to her known sources of income were worth Rs. 66.65 crore on April 30, 1996.
It was also argued that all the four accused were staying together at House No. 36, Poes Garden, Teynampet, Chennai, which was the official residence of Ms. Jayalalithaa, and the “shell” companies, though registered in a different address, had provided her Poes Garden residence’s address while opening their bank accounts.
