Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09CHENNAI269
2009-08-21 09:08:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Consulate Chennai
Cable title:  

PROSECUTIONS ON THE RISE, BUT CORRUPTION STILL PLAGUES

Tags:  PGOV PHUM PREL ETRD IN 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO7980
RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHNEH RUEHPW
DE RUEHCG #0269/01 2330908
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 210908Z AUG 09
FM AMCONSUL CHENNAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2441
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENNAI 000269 

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL ETRD IN
SUBJECT: PROSECUTIONS ON THE RISE, BUT CORRUPTION STILL PLAGUES
TAMIL NADU

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENNAI 000269

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL ETRD IN
SUBJECT: PROSECUTIONS ON THE RISE, BUT CORRUPTION STILL PLAGUES
TAMIL NADU


1. (SBU) Summary: Tamil Nadu has seen a series of arrests of
bureaucrats for official corruption in the recent months. The cases
have included several high-profile arrests of senior officers of the
Indian Administrative Service, as well as lower level officials.
Consulate contacts report that the arrests reflect a mixed picture.
On one hand, they are a sign of stepped up anti-corruption activity
by law enforcement authorities, spurred on by NGO investigations and
heightened media scrutiny. But with massive graft on the part of
the state's political leadership going unpunished, corruption will
continue to plague Tamil Nadu.

Passport officer picked up
--------------


2. (U) On April 25, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
arrested Regional Passport Officer Sumathi Ravichandran and her
husband on charges of bribery. Two travel agents, including
politician Fathima Muzaffar, were also arrested for acting as
conduits in bribery deals. According to media reports, Muzaffar
took 9000 rupees (USD 187.50) from a passport applicant, in addition
to the official fee, in order to bribe Ravichandran. CBI officials
alleged that Ravichandran's husband, a medical doctor, received
bribes from passport applicants and used coded instructions on
applications forwarded to his wife's office. CBI searches of the
Ravichandran residence, vehicles, and safe deposit boxes turned up
500,000 rupees (USD 10,000),property documents, and about 750 grams
of gold. (Note: It is widely believed that citizens must pay a
bribe in order to avoid inordinate delays in obtaining their
passports in Chennai. The Consulate's exchange grantees often
report the difficulties they face in getting passports in time to
participate in their programs due to this widespread practice. End
note.)

Port director caught with big bundle of cash
--------------


3. (U) On August 4, the CBI raided the office and homes of former
Chennai Port Trust Chairman K. Suresh and Deputy Conservator M.K.
Sinha and filed cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act
charging that they abused their official position for monetary
gains. The CBI charged that the officials had unlawfully allotted a
berth to an abandoned ship in exchange for money, causing a loss to

the port of 200 million rupees (USD 4.16 million). According to
officials, police seized five kilograms of gold, bank deposit
documents for 23 million rupees (USD 479,000) and $6,443 from his
premises.

Protector shakes down emigrants
--------------


4. (U) On July 20, the CBI arrested R. Sekar, Protector of
Emigrants (Chennai) and two agents on charges of corruption, seizing
10 million rupees (USD 208,000) from their premises. Indians
seeking to work overseas are required to obtain a clearance from the
Office of the Protector of Emigrants. According to news reports,
Sekar used bribes he collected from applicants seeking emigration
clearance to pay a bribe himself, which he used to secure his son's
admission in an engineering program. The CBI registered a case
against Sekar and his agents under the Prevention of Corruption Act
1988 and the Indian Penal Code.

Rural health director takes kickback for drug contract
--------------


5. (U) On August 6, the Tamil Nadu Directorate for Vigilance and
Anti-corruption (DVAC) arrested the Director of Medical and Rural
Health Services (Employees State Insurance),M. Ezhilarasi. The
DVAC had information that drug company representatives planned to
give 853,000 rupees (USD 17,700) to Ezhilarasi, who had allegedly
demanded 1 million rupees, as a kickback in exchange for a 150
million rupee (USD 3.125 million) contract for drug supplies. The
DVAC team reportedly had the official's house under surveillance and
arrested her soon after she took the bribe.

Vice-Chancellor got rich from bribes
--------------


6. (U) On August 7, DVAC officials raided the homes and offices of
the Vice-Chancellor of the Coimbatore Anna University, R.
Radhakrishnan. According to news reports quoting DVAC sources, the
raids stemmed from a petition in the Madras High Court alleging that
the Vice Chancellor had amassed wealth far beyond his legitimate
sources of income. Charges against the Vice-Chancellor included
accepting bribes in exchange for granting affiliation between the
university and over 100 private colleges and for awarding university
contracts.

NGOs and cops see positive trend
--------------


CHENNAI 00000269 002 OF 002



7. (SBU) A.A. Kumaran, Vice President of 5th Pillar, an
anti-corruption NGO, described the recent arrests as "a good trend."
Kumaran said young Indians are fed up with their society's
entrenched corruption, citing the role young people played in these
cases. For example, he pointed out that young journalists filed
most of the recent stories about corruption. According to Kumaran,
older reporters, who are more jaded, do not believe corruption cases
merit attention. Kumaran also expressed satisfaction with the
cooperation his NGO gets from law enforcement authorities, noting
that both the CBI and the DVAC take up cases that Fifth Pillar
refers to them. (Note: Generally speaking, the CBI has
jurisdiction over federal corruption cases and the DVAC over state
corruption cases. End note.) "The CBI and the DVAC work closely
with us," he said. Kumaran cited the Anna University case as an
example where Fifth Pillar initiated an investigation which the DVAC
later took up.


8. (SBU) DVAC Director K. Ramanujam agreed that the spate of recent
arrests reflects a trend of increased enforcement activity, noting
that DVAC filed twice as many cases in 2008 as it did in the
previous year. He told post that leads from citizens, NGOs, and
media reports are important means to ferret out corruption that
complement DVAC's own investigations. He said that the increased
media attention to corruption has helped law enforcement. "People
are more likely to come forward to complain to DVAC," after having
seen the newspaper stories, according to Ramanujam. He also said
stories about arrests and prosecutions deter corruption by enhancing
bureaucrats' fear of social stigma.

CBI credits text messaging campaign
--------------


9. (SBU) The CBI credits its recent successes to a text messaging
campaign first launched in 2008. A standard CBI text message reads:
"To fight corruption, inform SP, CBI, Chennai in 94447 70937/
24916257 on demand of bribe/corrupt practice/huge assets owned by
central government servants." News reports quoted CBI sources
saying they sent messages to 5 million mobile phone users.
According to the CBI, the public response was massive: they
received about 200 calls and 40 emails every day from Tamil Nadu and
Pondicherry. News reports claimed that the text messages generated
leads resulting in 50 cases and the arrest of several top officials
last year.

Overall picture bleak, despite positive steps
--------------


10. (SBU) Both Kumaran of Fifth Pillar and Ramanujam painted a
fairly bleak view of the overall situation despite the recent
positive news. Kumaran said "80 to 90 percent" of the officials in
the state are corrupt. As such, the struggle against corruption
will be a generational one, which is "why we focus on the young
people." Ramanujam said that he cautions his officers to be
realistic; that corruption "cannot be eliminated." The DVAC, he
noted, has only 700 officers to police the hundreds of thousands of
public servants working throughout the entire state of Tamil Nadu
(which is approximately the same size as Greece, with a population
exceeding that of the United Kingdom).


11. (SBU) He noted that even though DVAC has increased
prosecutions, "the courts take too long" with legal proceedings
taking five to ten years. The officials accused of corruption are
suspended from duty pending adjudication of their cases, Ramanujam
said, but they continue to receive salaries and benefits. The long
delays demoralize enforcement authorities, making it difficult to
keep staff motivated. A Chennai journalist who covers official
corruption told post that the CBI and DVAC are "trying hard but
corruption in Tamil Nadu is too much" for them to tackle.

Comment: A long way to go
--------------


12. (SBU) Comment: Tamil Nadu has a history of high levels of
official corruption, which is linked to the ascendance of the Tamil
nationalist (or "Dravidian") political parties in the 1960s. But
corrupt politicians require corrupt bureaucrats to help them skim
money, so the state's administrative services are riddled with
graft-seekers. Stepped up anti-corruption activity by NGOs, law
enforcement authorities, and the media is a welcome development.
But the recent arrests and prosecutions have been limited to the
state's bureaucrats, without reaching political levels. So long as
the state's political elite continue to engage in breathtaking graft
-- as personified by the absurd personal fortunes amassed by Chief
Minister Karunanidhi and his rival Jayalalithaa -- corruption will
remain a drag on Tamil Nadu's development. End comment.

SIMKIN