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The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Wednesday conducted searches at various locations in Tamil Nadu linked to former AIADMK minister and sitting MLA R. Vaithilingam in a money laundering case.
The development comes almost a month after Tamil Nadu's Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) registered a case against Vaithilingam and his family members for allegedly receiving bribes from a real estate major in lieu of granting planning permission for a housing project. The DVAC has charged Vaithilingam for allegedly misusing his role as the state's Housing and Urban Development minister (2011-2016) to acquire assets in his son's name that are inconsistent with his reported income. The DVAC claimed in its FIR that the real estate company funneled Rs 27.9 crore in bribes to a shell company controlled by Vaithilingam's family in exchange for approval to plan a residential complex. Vaithilingam served three terms as an AIADMK MLA from the Orathanadu constituency and held a ministerial position from 2001 to 2006. From 2011 to 2016, he managed the Housing and Urban Development and Agriculture portfolios. He was a Rajya Sabha MP from 2016 to 2021 and was re-elected as an MLA for Orathanadu in the 2021 Assembly elections. (ANI)
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