Speaker alleges intimidation by mediators of central agency

Chennai: Turning the tables on the Enforcement Directorate, the Tamil Nadu government, which has alleged persecution by the BJP-led NDA government, accused the Centre of indulging in corruption. A day after the DVAC searched the office of the directorate of enforcement in Madurai and arrested an officer on the charge of demanding and receiving bribe, Tamil Nadu assembly speaker M Appavu on Saturday levelled serious allegations against Central enforcement agencies, saying mediators of an agency had intimidated him for three months.Appavu said they asked him “to leave town for some days and change the mobile number”. He, however, chose not to mention the agency and the name of the mediators.
Leading a battery of charges by leaders across parties, Appavu told reporters in Tirunelveli that the enforcement agencies, especially the ED, had engaged mediators to intimidate individuals and extract money and would go to the extent of sending them notices if they did not yield to their tactics. Politicians and industrialists in the non-BJP ruled states were being targeted by the agencies, he alleged.
“A few were contacting me continuously for the last three months, saying that the Union government had told them to do something against me. I was asked to leave town and change my mobile number, if possible,” Appavu said, adding that he did not entertain the mediators since he was “upright” and that “one above would take care of him”.
Taking to X, TN minister Mano Thangaraj said, “What is this? Is it the Bharatiya Janata Party or the Bribery Janata Party?” He tweeted “#CorruptedBJP_ED #BJP_BriberyJanathaParty #Corrupted_ED #Corruptionkingmodi”.
DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran said it shattered the faith citizens had in public institutions, making one wonder if ED stood for “Extortion Department” or Enforcement Directorate after being systematically misused by the BJP government to brazenly terrorize and extort political opponents and critics across the country.
In a statement, TNCC president K S Alagiri said the ED, which showed itself as a “saint against corruption”. is now embroiled in the controversy after one of its officers was caught obtaining the bribe. “This incident shows that instead of eradicating corruption, the ED itself is involved in corruption,” he said.
Congratulating the DVAC, MDMK leader Vaiko said the ED, a political tool of the Union government, had been exposed with the arrests of its officials in Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan. CPM state secretary K Balakrishnan said the Central enforcement agencies had turned into political tools under Prime Minister Modi.
BJP state president K Annamalai told reporters in Tuticorin airport that the arrest of the ED officer was not the first or the last such case. “Everyone is human. When an officer is erring, even in specialised agencies like CBI or ED, action must be taken. DVAC has the authority to make such an arrest. In fact, strong legal action must be taken against the arrested ED officer. But, just because of this one case, the ED, as a whole, should not be painted in a bad light the same way Tamil Nadu police as a whole cannot be blamed for the actions of one corrupt officer,” he said. He added that the DVAC must handle the case professionally and there was nothing political about the incident as it is like any other case of an officer involved in bribery.
In Puducherry, Lieutenant governor Tamilisai Soundararajan told reporters that the DVAC sleuths searching the ED office in Madurai had set a wrong precedent. “There are ways to investigate. The central and state agencies should work in perfect harmony,” the governor said.
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said the law has done its duty and whoever involved in wrongdoings were offenders.