Chennai: After unearthing cash-forjobs, tenders and transfers scams, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has dug up evidence which indicates payment of huge bribes allegedly to top ministers and officials of Tamil Nadu during the 2021-26 DMK regime for setting up industrial parks and data centres by multinational firms, sources said.
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The documents indicate multiple instances of bribe payments of several crores in 2021, 2023 and 2024 for at least five major industrial parks and data centre projects in Tamil Nadu. Sources said that ED stumbled upon the details while investigating the hawala dealings of a middleman who facilitated clearances for the firms. The evidence, reviewed by FPJ, is in the form of documents, whatsapp conversations and official statements.
The documents detail payment of a flat bribe rate of Rs 27 per square feet to the minister of housing and urban development and the existence of a bribe ‘rate card’. For instance, it cites cases where Rs 1.01 crore was paid to obtain Government Orders (GOs) from ministers and the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) member secretary and payment of Rs 5 crore to Revenue Minister to get clearance under the land ceiling act. It also indicates payment of a Rs 3.5 crore bribe for rerouting a canal from the site of the industrial project, Rs 2-2.5 crore paid to the minister and officers of Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP), Rs 10 lakh to a senior electricity board officer, a bribe of Rs 9 per square feet to a minister and member secretary for environmental clearances and Consent to Establish (CTE), Rs 4 lakh for a Fire department NOC, a separate bribe for NOC from Agriculture department to show that the project isn’t coming up on a wet land and so on.
The documents have a calculation sheet from February 2024 detailing how a particular Rs 1600 crore data centre project brought in by a company from a South-East Asian country was cleared only after payment of Rs 1.89 crore bribe allegedly to a member secretary and ministers.
Similarly, a foreign firm paid Rs 1.44 crore bribe allegedly to the minister of urban development for a data centre project in Ambattur, Chennai over a 5.36 lakh square feet land parcel, the documents show.
In another instance in 2023, the documents show that a particular DMK minister allegedly quoted an additional bribe of Rs 20 per square feet and halted the file movement. The intervention of an influential person via a grievance cell was required to reduce the bribe rate, after which Rs 1.27 crore was paid for a project covering 3.87 lakh square feet area.
In September 2021, a district collector was allegedly paid Rs 50 lakh for resolving a patta issue for an industrial park project. The document from 2024 also indicates bribes of Rs 25 lakh paid to officers of line departments like electricity board, Public Works, Director of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) and Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) for clearances and approvals.
The bribes were routed by foreign companies through ‘consultants’ working in Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu, who would later transfer it to middlemen, one of whom was called ‘Supreme Account’. They would then give it in cash to the ministers and officials, the documents state. At every stage, hefty commissions were pocketed by the brokers.
Documents from October 2021 also indicate how a famous Chennai-based builder allegedly paid Rs 25 lakh bribe to the Prohibition and Excise minister and bribed policemen in the city for starting a resto-bar.
DMK sources said they would comment only if an official statement was given by ED. S Muthusamy, who held the housing portfolio in the DMK government, denied the allegations when contacted by FPJ. “All approvals were done as per procedure without any deviation,” he said. The then CMDA minister PK Sekar Babu did not respond to calls and messages seeking comment.
