Jaya counters charges

Jayalalitha, accused of having amassed wealth disproportionate to her known sources of income between 1991 and 96, also took potshots at the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), stating that it had overvalued her properties and even planted false ev­i­dence on her Chennai ho­use.

Jayalalitha, who appeared before the Gandhi Bhavan court at Parappana Agrahara on October 20 and 21 as the trial was transferred to Bangalore by the Supreme Court, answered 567 questions posed by judge B M Mallikarjunaiah.

As per details available with Deccan Herald, the chief minister alleged that Karunanidhi foisted many false cases against her, and that she has been acq­uitted in more than 12 such cases till date. Between 1991 and 1996 as many as 21 firms were registered in the names of Sasikala (ac­cused No 2) and V Sudh­akaran (accused No 3) who were directors in a majority of the firms. During this period, they had allegedly bought land in and around Chennai.

However, Jayalalitha pleaded ignorance of the land purch­ased for firms where she was not a partner. In the firms like JJ Enterprises and JJ TV, where she has partnership, Jayalalitha has claimed that she was only a “silent partner” and was not involved in the day-to-day affairs of the firms. 

Jayalalitha also disputed the valuations of  the 15 properties in Chennai and Hyderabad registered in her name, or in the name of one of her firms.

Jayalalitha informed judge Mallikarjunaiah that the DVAC had “excessively valued” her Chennai house at No 36 Poes Garden at Rs 7.24 crore. She has argued that the agency had valued this house and another house, No 31 A Poes Garden as a single property and valued it together. She said the valuation was done in her absence and she has not signed any of the evaluation proceedings.

He has said that the house was built with the money from Jaya Publications and JJ TV, with whom she had entered into a MoU. Jayalalitha has said she had only received a salary of Re 1 per year during her five-year tenure as she considered the chief minister’s post “sacred.”    Around 97 jewellery boxes were seized from No 31 A Poes Garden house in 1996. The boxes contained gold and gold-studded diamonds weighing about 23.113 kg, worth Rs 3.25 crore.

Jayalalitha has disputed that the person who valued the jewels was not authorised and it was overvalued.  Around 42 jewellery boxes were seized from the same house.Thought the ornaments, weighing 4.475 kg, were valued at Rs 47.61 lakh, Jayalalitha has claimed that the articles included what her partymen had presented to her in her capacity as a general secretary of the AIADMK. Some of them belonged to Sasikala. 

As for the silverware, she has said only some of them belonged to her while the investigating agency had planted silver from outside and added to wealth. About the watches worth Rs 75 lakh seized from her, she has said those were already in her possession and that some of them belonged to Sasikala as well.

As for the 914 sarees and 6,195 churidhars and nightwear valued at Rs 88.22 lakh, she said they were purchased earlier. She also said the clothes belonged to Sasikala, J Illavarasi (accused No 4) and other women employed in the house. She said 386 pairs of footwear worth Rs 2 lakh were planted by DVAC on her house.