Sleuths of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) are conducting searches at five places in Chennai, including the residence of an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, S. Malarvizhi who was allegedly involved in a scam involving the procurement of receipt books.
Ms. Malarvizhi, who is presently vice chairperson of Science City, was the Dharmapuri District Collector from February 28, 2018 to October 29, 2020. While in that posting, she allegedly diverted funds from the State’s Fifth Finance Commission’s grants for the procurement of receipt books for 251 village panchayats. A total of 1,25,500 receipt books for property tax, professional tax collections and other forms of tax collection were procured from these funds, from two private firms, at high rates, without the calling for tenders, it has been alleged.
To get today’s top stories from the State in your inbox, subscribe to our Tamil Nadu Today newsletter here
The DVAC alleged that Ms. Malarvizhi conspired with the owners of two firms and swindled ₹1.31 crore from the funds. The DVAC, Dharmapuri unit, had registered a case against her and H. Thageer Hussain of Crescent Traders and Veeraiah Palanivelu of Naga Traders, under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
DVAC sources said the searches are underway at 10 places including Ms. Malarvizhi’s residence in Virugambakkam. Five of the places are in Chennai, one each in Villupuram and Dharmapuri districts and three places are in Pudukottai.
