Chennai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday attached 25 movable and immovable properties worth over Rs 40 crore allegedly belonging to Durai Dayanidhi, son of expelled DMK member and former Union Minister M.K. Alagiri under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the agency said in a statement.
The action followed probe into the granite scam allegedly involving Olympus Granites Pvt Limited, in which Dayanidhi Alagiri is a director. The ED's seizure included land and buildings in and around Madurai and Chennai, besides a fixed deposit.
The ED statement said investigation under PMLA revealed that Olympus Granites Private Limited and its promoters/shareholders/directors had committed a Scheduled Offence and “derived proceeds of crime by indulging in the illegal quarrying and the trade proceeds of the Company derived from there were relentlessly incubated and thereby resulting in further accruals of proceeds of crime, all of which were camouflaged in the organisational system as business income/earnings, although gained out of the said illegal activity”.
The ED consequently has attached 25 movable and immovable properties, including land and buildings in Madurai and Chennai and a fixed deposit account, all of which had been identified as part of the illegally earned income by the company.
The Olympus scam involved encroachment of government land and the illegal granite mining in Madurai, thereby causing loss of Rs 44 crore to the government. Olympus Granites Private Limited, in which Dhayanidhi and S Nagarajan are directors, is one of the multiple granite companies accused of illegally mining from the mines owned by Tamil Nadu Minerals Limited (TAMIN), a TN government company.
The scam erupted in the open after then Madurai district collector U Sagayam wrote to the state government complaining of major violations by some granite companies in the district, such as Olympus and PRP Exports, which he alleged cost the exchequer about Rs.16,000 crore. He also alleged collusion between Olympus and TAMIN to enable the latter to mine illegally. The ED initiated investigation under PMLA against Olympus to identify the crime proceeds on the basis of FIR and charge sheet filed by Tamil Nadu Police against the company and people associated with it. The charge sheet had alleged they were involved in various offences under the IPC and the Explosives Act in the course of their illegal mining operations.
The ED statement said PMLA probe showed that the company and its promoters had committed a scheduled offence and derived proceeds of crime by indulging in the illegal quarrying and the trade proceeds of the company were further relentlessly incubated resulting in further accruals of proceeds of crime, all of which were camouflaged in the organisational system as business earnings.
Since all the earnings were made out of the illegal activity, the properties were identified as being part of crime proceeds and so they were "provisionally attached" under the PMLA.
