Explained: The Cash For Jobs Scam During Senthil Balaji's Tenure As Transport Minister

While the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has reportedly arrested Minister Senthil Balaji in a money laundering case related to a 3.75 acre plot near Karur, it is pertinent to have a look at the cash-for-jobs scam, in which he is an accused and is under investigation by the state police as well as the ED.

During his tenure as the transport minister in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government, Balaji is alleged to have entered into a criminal conspiracy with then managing directors of all State Transport Undertakings (STUs) and other officers of transport corporations to secure illegal gratification from candidates to recruit them as driver, conductor, junior tradesman, junior assistant, junior engineer and assistant engineer in the transport corporations.

According to the chargesheet filed by Central Crime Branch (CCB), Job Racket Wing of Tamil Nadu police, Balaji is said to have colluded with his close associates, B Shanmugam and M Karthikeyan alias Karthik, and collected data from all State Transport Corporations through managing directors and officers of the personnel section to collate complete data of the candidates.

The investigation by the police revealed that Balaji received illegal gratification from the candidates and sent lists to the managing directors, appointing authority and personnel section officers of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation to issue appointment orders for the candidates mentioned in the said list.

At least 33 candidates were appointed for the post of junior engineer, in accordance with the list illegally furnished by Balaji.

The modus operandi of the scam engineered by Balaji includes altering the original interview marks of candidates in the registers, the police chargesheet alleged. The recruitment registers containing details of candidates, maintained in the personnel section, were tampered with and forged. Interview marks were fraudulently reduced for meritorious candidates.

Investigation into the scam was based on a complaint case filed by an individual working as a technical staff in the Metro Transport Corporation who came in contact with Rajkumar, said to be a close aide of Balaji. During that period, vacancy had arisen in the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation for Driver/Conductor etc. Rajkumar informed the complainant that employment can be obtained if money is paid.

The complainant managed to mobilise the amount of Rs 40 lakh from several people and paid the amount to Shanmugam, who was the official PA of Senthil Balaji in his presence. Despite Balaji assuring him of posting, the complainant's name was missing from the selection list. (In this period, Balaji was ousted from the ministry after reportedly falling out of favour for a brief while with an influential family member of Sasikala family).

When the complainant approached Rajkumar to repay the amount, two cheques of Rs 15 lakh were given to him, which were dishonoured. He was also threatened for following up on the money.

At least 14 victims were cited as witnesses who were also defrauded similarly to the tune of Rs 40 lakh on the promise to secure jobs as driver or conductors.

Charges were filed against the minister and his associates under Sections 465 (Punishment for forgery), 468 (Forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (Using genuine as forged) dishonestly uses as genuine and 420 (Cheating) of IPC r/w 120 (B) (Criminal Conspiracy) of the IPC and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

In a baffling judicial order that faced severe criticism from a section of the public and the opposition parties, the Madras HC had quashed the proceeding against Balaji on the grounds that the complainant and 13 victims of the recruitment scam had arrived at a settlement and have been repaid the money owed.

A Supreme Court bench of Justices Krishna Murari and V Ramasubramanian overturned a Madras High Court order of 31 October 2022 and directed the Crime Branch to continue its probe against Excise and Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji.

It said that the investigation must be completed in two months and if necessary a Special Investigation Team (SIT) could be constituted.

The High Court had ordered a 'de novo', i.e., fresh investigation to be conducted against the minister.

The bench also allowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to continue its probe against Balaji and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The bench said, “The investigation officer shall proceed with further investigation in all cases by including the offences under the PC Act (Prevention of Corruption Act). Any let-up on the part of the investigation officer in this regard will pave the way for this court to consider appointing a special investigation team in the future.”

In what was seen as a particularly strong remark, the judgement said, “What was compromised between the complainant and the accused is not just their disputes, but justice, fair play, good conscience and the fundamental principles of criminal jurisprudence. In fact, the case on hand is one where there are two teams just for the purpose of record, but no one knows who is playing for which team and where the match was fixed.”