While Jayaraman Venkatesan, an anti-corruption activist based in Chennai and founder of citizen group Arappor Iyakkam, said that the citizen group will file a complaint with the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) in case the government fails to take any action, MK Stalin has demanded that a CBI probe into the charges leveled against TN officials.
It all started when CTS said in a statement on February 15, that it will pay $25 million to the US Security Exchanges Commission (SEC) based on its internal investigation that revealed bribery claims.
The filed reports reveal that two former executives of CTS approved bribe to senior government officials to the tune of $3.6 million via a third party construction company (L&T, reports suggest). The bribe was for getting clearances to construct CTS’s 2.7 million square foot new campus KITS in Chennai in 2014. The former executives named were Gordon Coburn and Steven E Schwartz. CTS voluntarily informed SEC of the bribery.
"It is direct offense under Prevention of Corruption Act 1988. The DVAC should get access to the investigation done by CTS and file a FIR," said Venkatesan.
However, it has not happened so far nor has the regulator started a suo motu investigation. In that case, the Tamil Nadu government ideally should direct DVAC to conduct a probe into the matter given that an investigation has already been conducted. This has not happened as well.
The housing minister during the period between 2011 and 2016 was R Vaithilingam. Chennai construction regulator CMDA, which comes under the housing ministry, is responsible for clearances.
According to a study by National Council of Applied Economic Research, Tamil Nadu tops the list of states when it comes to severity of corruption in the country.
One would remember the case of Kia Motors, when Kannan Ramasamy, an industrialist from Chennai, said in a Facebook post that the South Korean manufacturer has decided to invest $1.1 billion in Andhra Pradesh as senior Tamil Nadu government officials demanded bribes.
The post has since been taken down.
Though TN govt officials refuted the allegation, Venkatesan said, corruption and bribery are a common knowledge and are affecting the livelihood of people here.
In the meantime, L&T in a BSE filing on February 18 issued a statement related to this develoment.
"While we cannot comment on Cognizant's decision to enter into these settlements, we are not aware of any evidence that supports our involvement in making the alleged improper payments. We confirm that neither we nor any of our employees are a party to the proceedings brought in the United States. We have no further comments to make on this issue," it said.
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