The Supreme Court’s observation on the Jayalalithaa disproportionate assets case is a googly – it found that the trial court’s calculation of disproportionate assets was short by over Rs 45 lakh.
On the second day of the hearing of the Karnataka government’s petition, the Supreme Court found that the calculation of the trial court fell short by Rs 45,04, 221. This could have implications on the conviction of the trial court which found that the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister had amassed wealth beyond her known sources of income.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday had commenced final hearing in connection with the case filed by Karnataka government.
The Hindu had reported that the Karnataka government earlier submitted before a Bench of Justices PC Ghose and Amitava Roy that Jayalalithaa created a veneer of “conscientiousness” by drawing a salary of Re.1. “On the other side, tons of money are carried in suitcases to the banks by her cadre,” said senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for Karnataka.
Advocates appearing for the Karnataka government had argued that the case against TN CM could not be viewed as a mere default payment on income tax but corruption on her part.
The Karnataka HC had acquitted the AIADMK chief and others in the DA case last year after a special court convicted her in September 2014.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave for Karnataka had said her acquittal was a “gross miscarriage of justice”.
The Karnataka High Court, which acquitted Jayalalithaa, estimated that the discrepancy between the AIADMK chief’s known sources of income and unaccounted for wealth, was less than 10 percent. Citing the Krishnand Agnihotri case, the HC had said that the value of disproportionate income must be more than 10 percent of the stated income.