Thanjavur (Tamil Nadu), Oct 24 (Agency) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials on Wednesday searched at the residence of former AIADMK Minister and Orathanadu MLA, R.Vaithilingam at Uranthairayankudikadu village in Thanjavur district in connection with an alleged money laundering case.Official sources said an eleven-member ED official team began the search in his residence this morning. In addition to it his room at the MLA hostel in Chennai, two houses, and an educational institution owned by his family members were also searched under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The raids were carried out by the Central agency, a month after the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) had registered a disproportionate assets case against ten persons including Vaithilingam, his sons V.Prabhu and V.Shanmugaprabhu, brother-in-law R.Panneerselvam – Directors of Muthammal Estates Private Limited, a shell company, besides K.R.Ramesh, Director of Shriram Properties and Infrastructure Private Limited.Vaithilingam, who was Minister for Housing and Urban Development between 2011 and 2016 during AIADMK regime, has been accused of using his official position to acquire assets in the name of his sons which were disproportionate to his known sources of income.
The DVAC in its FIR charged that a bribe of Rs 27.90 crore was credited to the bank account of Muthammal Estates Private Limited in 2016, under the guise of providing an unsecured loan to do an undue favour to Shriram properties towards the construction of an office-cum-residential complex in Perungalathur at Chennai.Vaithilingam, an ex-Rajya Sabha member from Tamil Nadu and a close associate of former Chief Minister O.Panneerselvam was expelled from the primary membership of the AIADMK in July 2022 for anti-party activities by the party’s general council.