Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government has reallocated Senthil Balaji's portfolios after Governor R N Ravi’s nod. The portfolio held by Balaji has been allocated to ministers S Muthusamy and Thangam Thennarasu in addition to the subjects already held by them. However, the Governor has not agreed for Balaji to continue any longer as a Member of the Council of Ministers, as "he is facing criminal proceedings for moral turpitude and is currently in judicial custody, according to a release from Raj Bhavan.
“Based on the recommendations of the Hon'ble Chief Minister the subjects of "Electricity, Non-Conventional Energy Development" dealt with by Thiru V. Senthilbalaji, has been allocated to Thiru Thangam Thennarasu, Minister for Finance and Human Resources Management, in addition to the portfolios already held by him. Further, the subjects "Prohibition and Excise, Molasses" hitherto held by Thiru V. Senthilbalaji, has been allocated to Thiru S. Muthusamy, Minister for Housing and Urban Development in addition to the subjects already held by him. However, the Hon'ble Governor has not agreed Thiru V. Senthilbalaji continuing any longer as a Member of the Council of Ministers, as he is facing criminal proceedings for moral turpitude and is currently in Judicial custody,” the Raj Bhavan statement reads.
Balaji had been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday in a cash-for-jobs scam and is currently hospitalised. The portfolio reallocation comes a day after the ruling DMK accused Ravi of not accepting Stalin's recommendation to do so. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been granted 8-day custody of the arrested Tamil Nadu minister by a local court in Chennai. V Senthil Balaji appeared before Chennai Metropolitan Session court via video conferencing on Friday.
Meanwhile, ED has also summoned Balaji's brother RV Ashok Kumar, personal assistant B Shanmugam and others for questioning next week in an alleged cash-for-jobs linked money laundering case, officials said on Friday.
The two, along with some other accused and a woman who is suspected to be linked to an alleged 'benami' land deal related to the minister, have been called for recording their statements under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.
The case against Balaji and his aides pertains to his tenure as the state transport minister in the AIADMK government during 2011-15. The "entire appointment process was made in a fraudulent and dishonest manner and only in accordance with the lists provided by Shanmugam, R V Ashok Kumar, M Karthikeyan, as per the directions of Balaji", the ED had alleged.
These four are alleged to have collected money from the candidates "on behalf of Balaji" for issuing appointment orders. It is also alleged that the candidates who paid the money "neither got appointment orders nor their money back". The ED filed a case of money laundering in September 2021 to probe these allegations and its complaint is based on three Tamil Nadu Police FIRs filed during 2018 and some later years by some of those who failed to get the promised jobs.
