more-in Welcoming the Income Tax Department’s searches on SPK and Co Exprressway Private Ltd., a leading contractor engaged in highway projects, DMK working president M.K. Stalin on Monday urged the Centre to intensify the searches and punish the corrupt. In a statement issued from London, Mr. Stalin claimed that some of those associated with the firm were benamis of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, who held the Highways Department portfolio, among others. The DMK leader alleged that SPK’s managing director Nagarajan Seyyadurai and director Subramaniam Palanisamy, whose daughter was married to the Chief Minister’s son, were getting all the highway contracts awarded by the AIADMK government. “It is an unwritten law that only companies run by these two should get the highway contracts,” he charged. Only last month, the DMK, represented by its organising secretary R.S. Bharathi, had submitted a complaint to the Director of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) accusing the Chief Minister of indulging in favouritism and seeking registration of a criminal case and investigation under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The DMK complaint alleged that the duo had bagged the contracts for the Tirunelveli–Sengottai–Kollam highway (implemented at an ‘inflated’ cost of ?900 crore), the Madurai Ring Road (an additional ?18.57 crore was allegedly sanctioned for the project), and the Vandalur–Wallajah six-lane project (a ?200 crore World Bank-funded project). The maintenance contract covering all State Highway roads in Ramanathapuram, Tiruvallur, Krishnagiri and Virudhunagar districts (subsequently sub-contracted) was also awarded to SPK and Co, Mr. Stalin charged. The contracts were awarded at an inflated rate since the firms were controlled by persons closely related to the Chief Minister and his son, the DMK leader charged. ‘A weak Lokayukta’ According to Mr. Stalin, the I-T Department had seized ?80 crore in cash on Monday. Also, 30 bank accounts were under scrutiny. The searches “reflected how corrupt the AIADMK government was,” he said. Only because the firms of his two “benamis” were awarded contracts worth ?2,800 crore, the Chief Minister was afraid to have a strong Lokayukta in the State, the DMK leader claimed. Mr. Palaniswami knew that he and his family could be punished in future. In recent times, under the AIADMK regime, the I-T Department had carried out searches against Karur Anbunathan, a businessman; former Minister Natham Viswanathan; Health Minister C. Vijaya Baskar; former chief secretary P. Rama Mohana Rao; sand mining baron Sekar Reddy; and in Poes Garden and at the Kodanadu estate, he said.

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