Jayalalithaa acquitted, expected to assume office soon

Bengaluru/Chennai: The Karnataka High Court ruling came after an appeal against the judgement of special court judge John Michael D’Cunha who had on September 27, 2014, held Ms Jayalalithaa and the three others guilty of corruption and sentenced them to four years in jail, due to which she was disqualified as an MLA and stepped down as CM. The judge had also slapped a fine of Rs 100 crore on her and Rs 10 crore each on the three others.

Ms Jayalalithaa is expected to assume office at Fort St. George in Chennai soon. The judgement comes exactly one year ahead of Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, amid widespread speculation that the AIADMK leader, who must get re-elected in the next six months, may now call for early elections.

However, in a sign that the verdict may not go unchallenged, B.V. Acharya (former advocate-general), the recently-appointed special public prosecutor in the Jayalalithaa case, said the Karnataka state government, the sole prosecutor, can file an appeal before the Supreme Court.

In a detailed verdict running into 919 pages, the High Court said: “The percentage of disproportionate assets (DA) is 8.12%. It is relatively small. In the instant case, the DA is less than 10% and it is within permissible limit. Therefore, accused are entitled for acquittal. When the principal accused, Jayalalithaa has been acquitted, the other accused who have played a lesser role are also entitled for acquittal.”

The HC, in its finding, has recorded that the total income of Ms Jayalalithaa, and her firms and companies, was Rs 34,76,65,654 and that she possessed DA amount of Rs 2,82,36,812 while declining to accept the case of the prosecution that she had DA of Rs 66.65 crore or the DA amount of Rs 53.6 crore as per the special court.

The HC, while arriving at the percentage of DA amount, has removed the exaggerated value of cost of construction and marriage expenses, and has even said that the trial court had erred in not considering the loans as income.