Chennai, Jan 15 (NationPress) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) disclosed on Tuesday (January 15) that its Chennai Zonal Office has provisionally frozen assets valued at around Rs 100.93 crore in accordance with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002.

This action is associated with an ongoing investigation into R. Vaithilingam, an MLA and previous Minister for Housing and Urban Development in Tamil Nadu. The properties in question are registered under M/s Muthammal Estates Pvt. Ltd., a family-owned business of Vaithilingam.

The ED's inquiry arose from a First Information Report (FIR) lodged by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), Chennai, under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

The FIR accused R. Vaithilingam of accepting a bribe amounting to Rs 27.90 crore from M/s Shriram Properties & Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. while he served as Housing Minister. According to the DVAC, Shriram Properties requested planning authorization from the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) to develop 1,453 dwelling units on 57.47 acres at GST Road, Perungalathur, Chennai.

This application was pending with the CMDA from December 2, 2013, to February 24, 2016, during Vaithilingam's ministerial tenure.

It is claimed that the company paid Rs 27.90 crore as a kickback to secure essential approvals.

The ED's inquiry uncovered a scheme involving shell companies that masked and layered the bribe payments as share application money. Payments that were supposedly made by Shriram group entities for land acquisitions were actually misrepresented and not intended for genuine purchases.

Instead, these funds were funneled through various shell entities and ultimately deposited in M/s Muthammal Estates Pvt. Ltd., which is run by Vaithilingam's family. The illicit funds were utilized to acquire real estate in Trichy, which has now been provisionally attached by the ED.

R. Vaithilingam is a prominent figure in the AIADMK party. He has served as an MLA from the Orathanadu constituency on three occasions and held ministerial roles between 2001 and 2006.

From 2011 to 2016, he managed the portfolios of Housing and Urban Development, as well as Agriculture. He was also a Rajya Sabha MP from 2016 to 2021 and was re-elected as an MLA from Orathanadu in the 2021 Assembly elections.