Corruption case: DVAC searches home, office of SCERT director

The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption on Wednesday searched the office and the home of the director of State Council of Educational Research and Training G Arivoli after a case of corruption was registered against him.

The DVAC also registered cases against the director of non-formal education R Latha, assistant professor Sangeetha, graduate teacher from Kancheepuram Chitra, and secondarygrade teacher from Salem M Amalan Jerome.

According to the complaint, while working in SCERT, the accused conspired and indulged in corrupt activities together. They allegedly swindled government money sanctioned to implement various projects by the organisation.

Among the accused, R Latha was working as a joint director and held the charge of administration for the scene ‘Ulagamellam Tamil’ (universalising Tamil), while Sangeetha was a co-ordinator for the same scheme.

The Tamil Nadu government had launched the project to publish and circulate two magazines for students and teachers. The aim was to improve the general knowledge and language proficiency of the students in 31, 322 government and panchayat union primary and middle schools. Arivoli and others had allegedly swindled more than Rs17 lakh by using bogus vouchers and by adopting other fraudulent methods, stated the FIR filed against them.

Arivoli has also been accused of siphoning off funds under the pretext of conducting conferences of experts and teachers to frame the curriculum byaccepting bogus bills. According to the DVAC officers, all the accused conspired together and agreed to assist each other in stealing the money.

The FIR also stated the TNSCERT bought an educational satellite called ‘Edusat’ in 2016-17 at an inflated price of more than Rs 2 crore. The satellite,however, turned out to be dysfunctional.