Indian Tamil leader Jayalalitha cleared of corruption charges

The AIADMK leader was forced to stand down as chief minister of Tamil Nadu after being found guilty last September of amassing illegal wealth while in office

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AP
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AP

Bengaluru: The head of India’s largest Tamil party was cleared of corruption on Monday, a verdict that sparked wild celebrations by supporters and paved the way for the return of one of the country’s most powerful politicians.

Former film star Jayalalitha Jayaram was forced to stand down as chief minister of prosperous Tamil Nadu state after being found guilty last September of amassing illegal wealth while in office.

The former film star was sentenced to four years in jail and fined Rs1 billion (Dh58.77 million) in a case that ran for nearly two decades.£€

But High Court judge C.R. Kumaraswamy declared her “appeal upheld” on Monday at a hearing in the city of Bengaluru, which lasted only seconds.

“We don’t think there is any ground for appeal. As far as we are concerned, the case is closed,” public prosecutor B.V. Acharya told reporters outside the court.

Although Jayalalitha had been forced to quit as chief minister of the southern state, her return is now seen as a formality as she continued to control her party while on bail awaiting the outcome of the appeal.

The 67-year-old former actress enjoys huge popularity in Tamil Nadu where fans know her simply as ‘Amma” (Mother) and ministers have been known to prostrate themselves before her.

Jubilant supporters cheered, handed out sweets and set off fire crackers outside the court, where security had been strengthened ahead of the decision, and in Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu.

Hundreds of supporters held up photos of Jayalalitha and danced in the streets shouting ‘Amma Amma’ outside her house in Chennai, formerly known as Madras.

“This was a false case. It was a political vendetta by the opposition to discredit Jayalalitha but we have got justice from the law,” a leader of her All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party, William Rabi Bernard, said.

“She will take over as chief minister of the state in less than a fortnight.”

Jayalalitha has always dismissed the corruption charge, first brought by a rival politician in the state in 1996, as politically motivated.

She was charged in 1997, when police seized assets including 28 kilos of gold, 750 pairs of shoes and more than 10,000 saris in a raid on her home.

Prosecutors said her assets, which reportedly included two 1,000-acre estates in the lush tropical state she ran, were vastly disproportionate to her earnings during her first term as chief minister, which ran from 1991 to 1996.

Jayalalitha has earned the loyalty of many voters in Tamil Nadu with a series of highly populist schemes including an ‘Amma canteen’ that provides lunch for just three rupees (17 fils), although she has also drawn accusations of an autocratic governing style.

During last year’s general election campaign, she garnered huge support by handing out freebies including electric blenders, goats and small amounts of gold.

Her AIADMK party is the third largest force in the national parliament, and she is regarded as close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Jayalalitha took over the leadership of the party after the death of its founder M.G. Ramachandran — her on-screen love interest in multiple movies.

On Monday, party loyalists had been holding religious ceremonies in temples across in the southern state, praying for her conviction to be overturned.

Jayalalitha’s three co-accused in the case also had their convictions overturned.

The case was held in Bengaluru rather than Tamil Nadu for security reasons and there was a heavy police presence outside the court, with authorities fearing supporters would turn violent if the decision went against her.

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