3,000 acres marked for seizure

Land held by six firms found to be linked to Jayalalithaa

The Special Court, which convicted Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and her aides in the disproportionate assets case on Saturday, has issued a direction for the confiscation of around 3,000 acres of land and other properties held by six firms “for and on behalf of Ms. Jayalalithaa.”

The properties were registered in the names of Ramraj Agro Mills Ltd, Signora Business Enterprises, Lex Properties Development Pvt Ltd, Riverway Agro Products Ltd; Meadow Agro Farms Pvt Ltd; and Indo-Doha Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals.

Judge John Michael Cunha said in his order that the present value of the 3,000 acres “is left to our imagination.” Nine hundred acres at Kodanad was purchased for Rs.7.5 crore. The other agricultural lands were acquired for around Rs. 10,000 per acre. At this price, the entire village [to which these lands belong] could have been bought for Rs.53 crore, the court observed.

While sentencing Ms. Jayalalithaa to four years in jail and imposing an exemplary fine of Rs.100 crore, the court said such a stiff punishment was warranted considering the gravity, magnitude and quantum of the disproportionate assets she held.

The “heady mix of power and wealth is the bottom line of this case,” the court said. “The huge accumulation of wealth by Ms. Jayalalithaa and others in a short span of five years is a telling example of how power would lead to concentration of unlawful wealth, posing a veritable danger to the democratic structure.”

The offence committed by the convicts attracted more than half of the maximum sentence [seven years] provided in Sections 13(1)(e) and 13(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, the court said.

“It is the duty of the court to effectuate the purpose of the law when the legislature intends to eradicate corruption by providing for deterrent punishment,” the court said. Corruption by public servants occupying higher position would not only encourage those in lower positions to indulge in such illegalities, but prevent higher-ups from taking action against delinquent officials occupying lower positions, it said.

Rs. 5 crore as costs

The Karnataka government will get Rs. 5 crore from the fine imposed on Ms. Jayalalithaa and the other accused to compensate the State for the cost incurred on the trial.