India’s Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy announced on Friday that he would take the Enforcement Directorate’s financial investigation against him legally. The investigation was started earlier this week.
Ponmudy refused to comment on the documents found, the fixed deposits worth Rs 41.9 crore that the ED had blocked during the searches, or the cash worth Rs 81.7 lakh (British pounds), which is roughly comparable to Rs 13 lakhs. Instead, he added, ‘I will face the case legally.’
When questioned by reporters about the searches that took place on his property on July 17, the minister said, ‘Confine your questions to education.’ Ponmudy claimed he had nothing more to say about the raids than what Chief Minister M K Stalin had already said when the reporters persisted.
‘The chief minister himself had said that the case will be fought legally. I will face it legally,’ he said and added, ‘We have seen many such cases in the past.’
The ED also questioned the minister’s MP son Gautam Sigamani in relation to a money laundering investigation.
In addition to offering support to his Cabinet colleague, Stalin accused the BJP-led government at the Centre of having a “political vendetta” before departing for the opposition parties’ conference in Bengaluru. The chief minister had also stated that Ponmudy will have the moral, political, and legal support of the DMK, the party in power.
Ponmudy, who presided over a meeting of vice chancellors, had earlier told media that the chief minister had approved raising the guest lecturers’ monthly pay from Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 despite the state’s current financial difficulties.
‘This would come into effect soon. Also, steps will be taken to fill up the vacancies for all posts in colleges and universities,’ he said.
Additionally, efforts would be made to ensure that government colleges, aided colleges, autonomous colleges, and minority colleges all followed a common syllabus and held exams concurrently, Ponmudy stated.
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