The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has claimed in a recent chargesheet that the entire recruitment process in the Tamil Nadu transport department during the tenure of accused Minister V Senthil Balaji was turned into a “corrupt chiefdom” and the “cash-for-jobs scam” was executed under his authority.
The prosecution complaint, filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), was submitted by the agency on August 12 before a special court in Chennai recently. DMK leader Balaji (47) was arrested by the ED on June 14 in connection with the “cash-for-jobs scam” alleged to have taken place when he was the transport minister in the previous AIADMK regime in Tamil Nadu from 2011 to 2016. Despite undergoing judicial custody, Balaji continues to be a minister without portfolio in the Chief Minister M K Stalin-led cabinet and his judicial custody has been extended till September 15.
“The whole recruitment in the transport department during the tenure of the then minister V Senthil Balaji has turned into a corrupt chiefdom, in which, as per the illegal directions of the chief (V Senthil Balaji), recruitment process was designed and implemented,” the ED alleged in chargesheet.
