Preliminary probe into plaint against minister completed: DVAC

The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption on Tuesday informed the Madras High Court that it has completed preliminary inquiry on the complaints made by DMK and an NGO levelling corruption charges against local administration minister S P Velumani in various contracts.

The inquiry has been completed and the report has been submitted to the director of DVAC, public prosecutor A Natarajan informed the court.

Recording the submissions, a division bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and R Hemalatha directed the DVAC to produce the preliminary inquiry report along with the case files by January 23.

Earlier, counsel for DMK submitted that the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act does not mandate preliminary inquiry at all.

However, the agency is claiming to be conducting the inquiry as per the DVAC manual.

This apart, as per the amendment made to the PC Act, only governor can order sanction to commence inquiry against a public servant. But in the present case, DVAC has obtained the sanction from the chief secretary, he said.

DMK has sought a probe against Velumani over alleged flouting of laws and corruption in awarding tenders for government projects and contracts