Stalin alleges scam in free laptop purchase

Condemning Palaniswami led AIADMK regime for the “mega scam” in the implementation of the scheme designed to distribute laptops free of cost to students, Stalin said that a Chinese firm, which participated in the project tender, had tabled test reports for two laptop models of the same price. On scrutiny of the test papers, one model was awarded a score of 465 and another 265, the DMK president said, alleging that the IT minister, his department secretary and ELCOT managing director had jointly placed orders for the low score (performance) substandard laptop to help the Chinese firm, which had generated an illegal profit of Rs 469 crore by overpricing the laptop to the tune of Rs 3,000 each.

Charging the CM, Stalin said that of the total project cost, Rs 1,465 crore had been paid and steps were being taken to pay the remaining Rs 465 crore to the firm before Election Model Code of Conduct comes to effect.

Stalin asked the CM to immediately stop payment of Rs 465 crore to the firm which supplied substandard laptops. He also alleged that laptops supplied by the Chinese firm did not meet the tender condition with regards to memory enhancement and added that the Chinese firm was paid an additional Rs 392 crore to fix new motherboards (Rs 2,500 each) to upgrade the memory.