Ponmudy, wife get 3-yr jail term in DA case

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Thursday sentenced Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy and his wife P Visalatchi to three years in prison under the Prevention of Corruption Act in a 2011 disproportionate asset (DA) case booked by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC).

Ponmudy, a six-time MLA who was elected from Tirukovilur constituency in his native Villupuram in the May 2021 polls, now stands automatically disqualified as MLA and as Minister under the Representation of People’s Act.

Justice G Jayachandran also imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh on both convicts under Section 13 (1) (e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), 1988.

Suspending the operation of the sentence for 30 days to allow him to file an appeal in the Supreme Court, the court also directed that copies of the order should be sent to the government, the Assembly Secretary and the Election Commission.

The court also ruled that he could approach this court if his appeal was not taken up for hearing by the Apex Court in 30 days.

Considering their health conditions, the judge granted 30 days to surrender before the trial court to undergo the sentence imposed. The trial court shall secure the accused by executing the warrant if the accused fails to surrender on or before January 22, it said.

Ponmudy pleaded not guilty and also submitted that considering his age and cardiac issues, he be awarded a minimum sentence. However, the judge refused it “considering the nature of the offence, its gravity, and impact on society”.

Allowing the DVAC appeal in February 2017 and setting aside an April 2016 acquittal by a Special Court for PCA cases in Villupuram, Justice Jayachandran said the trial court verdict was “palpably wrong, manifestly erroneous and demonstrably unsustainable”.

The judge said that the prosecution had clearly proved that the couple were in possession of assets worth about Rs 1.72 crore disproportionate to their known sources of income during the check period between April 13, 2006, and May 13, 2010, when Ponmudy was the Higher Education and Mines Minister.

The judge found Ponmudy guilty of criminal misconduct under the PCA, and his wife guilty of abetment. He pointed out that the trial court had erred in considering the Minister and his wife as two separate entities and accepting her income tax returns after the registration of the case as its sole ground to acquit both of them. The trial court’s decision to accept the self-serving tax declaration was patently erroneous and contrary to the evidence on record.

“Whether the spouse of a public servant should be treated as a separate entity or as a part and parcel of the public servant would depend upon the facts of each case. In the present case, even if effective business was done by the firms in the names of the spouse, the evidence indicates that she was only a name lender for the operations done by the public servant,” the judge observed.

He noted that “just because a person has separate I-T accounts and some business, segregating the accounts and properties of the person who has aided the public servant to hold his ill-gotten property will lead to miscarriage of justice...A miscarriage of justice which may arise from the acquittal of the guilty is no less than from the conviction of an innocent.

“A complete miscarriage of justice had occurred by the omission of reliable evidence and by misinterpretation of the evidence,” Justice Jayachandran noted.

“The overwhelming evidence against the respondents and the unsustainable reasons given by the trial court for acquittal by ignoring those evidence compel this court to declare the judgment of the trial court is palpably wrong, manifestly erroneous, and demonstrably unsustainable. Hence, this is a fit case for the appellate court to interfere and set it aside,” the Judge said while convicting the couple.

What next for convicts

Can't contest polls

Convicted and sentenced to imprisonment under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, Ponmudy stands automatically disqualified as MLA and Minister. Further, he cannot contest any election for six years.

Apex court option

Legal experts told DT Next that since the MHC has not granted leave to Ponmudy, he has to file a Special Leave Petition (SLP) with the exemption of surrender. If the exemption of surrender prayer is refused, Ponmudy has to surrender before the trial court.

Other pending cases

Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case booked by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against K Ponmudy for having aided his son, Gautham Sigamani, other family members, and aides to illegally quarry red sand in Villupuram.

On August 10, Justice N Anand Venkatesh initiated suo motu criminal revision against the discharge of Ponmudy and his wife by Villupuram Principal District court in a 2002 DA case.

3RD TO BE DISQUALIFIED: Ponmudy is the third politician in Tamil Nadu to lose the MLA post in the last 10 years after former Chief Minister Late J Jayalalithaa and former minister K Balakrishna Reddy