Within the current day, a decrease CIBIL rating can break your mortgage software. Within the pre-database period, mortgage defaults wouldn’t present up in opposition to your title on the pc display screen. But, such unhealthy debt-clearing historical past had the potential to hang-out the defaulter a few years later as this case establishes.
In 1973, Ok. Ponnusamy was working as a Lecturer at a Authorities Arts School in Tamil Nadu. He availed of a ₹13,000 crop mortgage from the Financial institution of India however did not repay the mortgage. The financial institution moved the court docket and picked up the quantity.
Madras HC orders launch of former Minister Ok. Ponnusamy’s seized properties
Subsequently, in 1985, he borrowed ₹5,000 from a colleague R. Palanivelu, after executing a promissory observe. He defaulted on this mortgage too. The lender needed to file a go well with on which a decree was handed. Even then, the cash was not repaid. Finally, the decree quantity was recovered from his wage.
In later years Mr. Ponnusamy’s private fortunes had been on the upswing. He had grow to be a well-recognized persona in Tamil Nadu in 1991, when he was elected to the Meeting from the Marungapuri constituency on an AIADMK ticket. Driving on a sympathy wave triggered by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, J. Jayalalitha (as her title was spelled then) turned the youngest Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. She appointed Mr. Ponnusamy Deputy Speaker of the Meeting on July 3. Two years later, on Might 17, she inducted him into her Cupboard and allotted the Training portfolio. He held the submit until Might 9, 1996, when the AIADMK was thrown out of energy following a powerful anti-corruption wave.
The brand new M. Karunanidhi authorities registered corruption instances in opposition to Jayalalithaa, her confidante Sasikala Natarajan (now VK Sasikala), former Ministers and others. It additionally established three Particular Courts in Chennai to prosecute the accused.
That’s when Mr. Ponnusamy’s troubles started. The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption registered a case in opposition to him, his spouse Prabavathy, daughter Mala, nephew Venkatesan, brother Ok. Rajappa and an auditor V. Jayaraman. The company accused Mr. Ponnusamy of amassing wealth to the tune of ₹77.49 lakh throughout his tenure as Minister, disproportionate to his recognized sources of revenue. The movable and immovable belongings had been acquired within the names of his spouse and daughter. Ms. Prabavathy was a housewife incomes a small agricultural revenue. His daughter was solely a scholar.
A file picture of Ok. Ponnusamy | Picture Credit score: The Hindu
The previous Minister contended that he had derived revenue from properties.
Throughout the trial within the Particular Courtroom II, the prosecution wished to ascertain that Mr. Ponnusamy was not financially nicely off until such time he turned the Training Minister. For this, the prosecution dug up his previous and produced proof of him having defaulted on the crop mortgage and private borrowing. His colleague Mr. Palanivelu appeared in court docket as a prosecution witness and let in proof in regards to the battle he confronted in recovering ₹5,000 from the previous Minister.
This proved to be a turning level within the case and ultimately led to Mr. Ponnusamy’s conviction in August 2000, greater than 1 / 4 of a century after he first defaulted in repaying a mortgage.
The choose V. Radhakrishnan famous in his verdict: “Until he turned the Training Minister, Mr. Ponnusamy’s monetary place was not sound. It seems that he needed to borrow cash to make each (sic) ends meet, and he couldn’t repay the loans and execution proceedings needed to be initiated in opposition to him for restoration of loans by the collectors. At the same time as a Deputy Speaker and MLA place, he was not in abts to discharge the debt. So the story that he had a variety of revenue from landed properties can’t be accepted.”
The previous Minister had additionally taken the protection that the properties had been acquired by means of funds given “out of affection and affection” by Mr. Venkatesan to his sister and niece (ie Ms Prabavathy and Ms Mala).
Ok. Ponnusamy handing over the South Asia Federation Video games (SAF) flag and torch obtained from Dhaka, to former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Dr. J. Jayalalitha at Secretariat in Madras on December 31, 1993. File. Picture: Particular association
Nevertheless, the choose rejected this idea saying it was unbelievable. The court docket identified Mr. Ponnusamy had not provided any acceptable rationalization in respect of the belongings standing within the names of his spouse, daughter, his brother and Mr. Venkatesan. The conduct of the 4 accused and the circumstances “unerringly and clearly indicated” that solely by using the funds of Mr. Ponnusamy, “which couldn’t be accounted for”, pecuniary assets of their names had been acquired. “These accused had been solely title lenders or benamidars,” it held.
The choose then sentenced the previous Minister to endure three yr rigorous imprisonment (RI) and pay a positive of ₹1 lakh. Whereas acquitting the auditor for need of proof, the court docket awarded one yr RI and imposed a positive of ₹10,000 on every of the opposite 4 accused, who had been discovered responsible.
All 5 of them appealed within the Madras Excessive Courtroom difficult their conviction. In April 2001, the Excessive Courtroom upheld Mr. Ponnusamy’s conviction alone, whereas acquitting his members of the family. The court docket stated there was no proof that they had deliberately aided Mr. Ponnusamy in committing the offence. Additionally, there was nothing to ascertain that his spouse and daughter knew that ill-got cash was getting used for buying property of their names.
Mr. Ponnusamy then moved the Supreme Courtroom looking for reduction. A Bench of Justices SN Vairava and KT Thomas dismissed his petition in July 2001 holding: “Each the trial court docket and the Excessive Courtroom had been proper in convicting the appellant.”
So, Mr. Ponnusamy turned the primary former Minister from Tamil Nadu to be convicted by the best court docket of the nation in a corruption case and serve his sentence.
Postscript: The case was not over but. It took a curious flip in March 2019. Passing orders on an enchantment from Mr. Prabavavathy and Ms. Mala, the Madras Excessive Courtroom directed the State authorities to launch properties price ₹77.49 lakh and 1,000 grams of gold ornaments seized from them since they stood acquitted within the case. What’s extra attention-grabbing was that the order was handed although the 2 girls remained unrepresented within the enchantment both in individual or by means of their counsel.
Revealed – December 03, 2025 05:30 am IST