A Chennai court on Thursday framed charges against the beleaguered TTV Dinakaran, the deputy general secretary of the AIADMK (Amma), in one of the two cases registered by the Enforcement Directorate in 2001 for violation of provisions of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA).
S Malarmathy, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, read out the charges against Dinakaran who was present in the court. The AIADMK (Amma) leader denied all charges. The ED has filed two cases in this court against Dinakaran.
Thursday’s chargesheet is related to the illegal transaction of $1,04,93,313 in foreign exchange without the knowledge or approval of the Reserve Bank of India and deposited it in the account of Dipper Investment ltd, a company incorporated in the British Virginia Islands, with Barclays Bank, Sutton, United Kingdom.
The ED has filed another case against Dinakaran which is expected to come soon before the court for framing of charges. It is in connection with the illegal receipt of foreign exchange to the tune of $ 36,36,000 and $ 1,00,000 and paying the same to the account of a person residing outside India without the authorisation by the Reserve Bank of India for starting a hotel in the UK and later for a wine factory. The judge adjourned both the cases to June 22 for further trials.
Dinakaran has come out in bail only last week from New Delhi’s Tihar Jail where he has been incarcerated for 40 days in connection with the attempt to bribe the Election Commission of India officials in the ‘Two leaves’ symbol case.
The Delhi Police had arrested him with a close associate for attempting to bribe the ECI officials to ensure that his faction of the AIADMK was allotted the ‘Two leaves’ symbol, for which the O Panneerselvam faction too has staked claims.
Meanwhile , in Chennai, a war of nerves is going on between the three factions of the AIADMK led by Chief Minister Edappady Palaniswamy, O Panneerselvam and Dinakaran. There are unconfirmed reports that the Dinakaran faction is in talks with the UPA leadership regarding the Presidential election scheduled for July 17 and chances are that the 30 MlAs and 12 MPs owing allegiance to Dinakaran (read VK Sasikala) would cast their lots with
the UPA.