VZCZCXRO7980
RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHNEH RUEHPW
DE RUEHCG #0269/01 2330908
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 210908Z AUG 09
FM AMCONSUL CHENNAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2441
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENNAI 000269 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL ETRD IN
SUBJECT:  PROSECUTIONS ON THE RISE, BUT CORRUPTION STILL PLAGUES 
TAMIL NADU 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  Tamil Nadu has seen a series of arrests of 
bureaucrats for official corruption in the recent months.  The cases 
have included several high-profile arrests of senior officers of the 
Indian Administrative Service, as well as lower level officials. 
Consulate contacts report that the arrests reflect a mixed picture. 
On one hand, they are a sign of stepped up anti-corruption activity 
by law enforcement authorities, spurred on by NGO investigations and 
heightened media scrutiny.  But with massive graft on the part of 
the state's political leadership going unpunished, corruption will 
continue to plague Tamil Nadu. 
 
Passport officer picked up 
--------- 
 
¶2.  (U) On April 25, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) 
arrested Regional Passport Officer Sumathi Ravichandran and her 
husband on charges of bribery.  Two travel agents, including 
politician Fathima Muzaffar, were also arrested for acting as 
conduits in bribery deals.  According to media reports, Muzaffar 
took 9000 rupees (USD 187.50) from a passport applicant, in addition 
to the official fee, in order to bribe Ravichandran. CBI officials 
alleged that Ravichandran's husband, a medical doctor, received 
bribes from passport applicants and used coded instructions on 
applications forwarded to his wife's office.  CBI searches of the 
Ravichandran residence, vehicles, and safe deposit boxes turned up 
500,000 rupees (USD 10,000), property documents, and about 750 grams 
of gold.  (Note:  It is widely believed that citizens must pay a 
bribe in order to avoid inordinate delays in obtaining their 
passports in Chennai.  The Consulate's exchange grantees often 
report the difficulties they face in getting passports in time to 
participate in their programs due to this widespread practice.  End 
note.) 
 
Port director caught with big bundle of cash 
--------- 
 
¶3.  (U) On August 4, the CBI raided the office and homes of former 
Chennai Port Trust Chairman K. Suresh and Deputy Conservator M.K. 
Sinha and filed cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act 
charging that they abused their official position for monetary 
gains.  The CBI charged that the officials had unlawfully allotted a 
berth to an abandoned ship in exchange for money, causing a loss to 
the port of 200 million rupees (USD 4.16 million).  According to 
officials, police seized five kilograms of gold, bank deposit 
documents for 23 million rupees (USD 479,000) and $6,443 from his 
premises. 
 
Protector shakes down emigrants 
--------- 
 
¶4.  (U) On July 20, the CBI arrested R. Sekar, Protector of 
Emigrants (Chennai) and two agents on charges of corruption, seizing 
10 million rupees (USD 208,000) from their premises.  Indians 
seeking to work overseas are required to obtain a clearance from the 
Office of the Protector of Emigrants.  According to news reports, 
Sekar used bribes he collected from applicants seeking emigration 
clearance to pay a bribe himself, which he used to secure his son's 
admission in an engineering program.  The CBI registered a case 
against Sekar and his agents under the Prevention of Corruption Act 
1988 and the Indian Penal Code. 
 
Rural health director takes kickback for drug contract 
--------- 
 
¶5.  (U) On August 6, the Tamil Nadu Directorate for Vigilance and 
Anti-corruption (DVAC) arrested the Director of Medical and Rural 
Health Services (Employees State Insurance), M. Ezhilarasi.  The 
DVAC had information that drug company representatives planned to 
give 853,000 rupees (USD 17,700) to Ezhilarasi, who had allegedly 
demanded 1 million rupees, as a kickback in exchange for a 150 
million rupee (USD 3.125 million) contract for drug supplies.  The 
DVAC team reportedly had the official's house under surveillance and 
arrested her soon after she took the bribe. 
 
Vice-Chancellor got rich from bribes 
--------- 
 
¶6.  (U) On August 7, DVAC officials raided the homes and offices of 
the Vice-Chancellor of the Coimbatore Anna University, R. 
Radhakrishnan.  According to news reports quoting DVAC sources, the 
raids stemmed from a petition in the Madras High Court alleging that 
the Vice Chancellor had amassed wealth far beyond his legitimate 
sources of income.  Charges against the Vice-Chancellor included 
accepting bribes in exchange for granting affiliation between the 
university and over 100 private colleges and for awarding university 
contracts. 
 
NGOs and cops see positive trend 
--------- 
 
 
CHENNAI 00000269  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU) A.A. Kumaran, Vice President of 5th Pillar, an 
anti-corruption NGO, described the recent arrests as "a good trend." 
 Kumaran said young Indians are fed up with their society's 
entrenched corruption, citing the role young people played in these 
cases.  For example, he pointed out that young journalists filed 
most of the recent stories about corruption.  According to Kumaran, 
older reporters, who are more jaded, do not believe corruption cases 
merit attention.  Kumaran also expressed satisfaction with the 
cooperation his NGO gets from law enforcement authorities, noting 
that both the CBI and the DVAC take up cases that Fifth Pillar 
refers to them.  (Note:  Generally speaking, the CBI has 
jurisdiction over federal corruption cases and the DVAC over state 
corruption cases.  End note.)  "The CBI and the DVAC work closely 
with us," he said.  Kumaran cited the Anna University case as an 
example where Fifth Pillar initiated an investigation which the DVAC 
later took up. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) DVAC Director K. Ramanujam agreed that the spate of recent 
arrests reflects a trend of increased enforcement activity, noting 
that DVAC filed twice as many cases in 2008 as it did in the 
previous year.  He told post that leads from citizens, NGOs, and 
media reports are important means to ferret out corruption that 
complement DVAC's own investigations.  He said that the increased 
media attention to corruption has helped  law enforcement.  "People 
are more likely to come forward to complain to DVAC," after having 
seen the newspaper stories, according to Ramanujam.  He also said 
stories about arrests and prosecutions deter corruption by enhancing 
bureaucrats' fear of social stigma. 
 
CBI credits text messaging campaign 
--------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) The CBI credits its recent successes to a text messaging 
campaign first launched in 2008.  A standard CBI text message reads: 
 "To fight corruption, inform SP, CBI, Chennai in 94447 70937/ 
24916257 on demand of bribe/corrupt practice/huge assets owned by 
central government servants."  News reports quoted CBI sources 
saying they sent messages to 5 million mobile phone users. 
According to the CBI, the public response was massive:  they 
received about 200 calls and 40 emails every day from Tamil Nadu and 
Pondicherry.  News reports claimed that the text messages generated 
leads resulting in 50 cases and the arrest of several top officials 
last year. 
 
Overall picture bleak, despite positive steps 
--------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Both Kumaran of Fifth Pillar and Ramanujam painted a 
fairly bleak view of the overall situation despite the recent 
positive news.  Kumaran said "80 to 90 percent" of the officials in 
the state are corrupt.  As such, the struggle against corruption 
will be a generational one, which is "why we focus on the young 
people."  Ramanujam said that he cautions his officers to be 
realistic; that corruption "cannot be eliminated."  The DVAC, he 
noted, has only 700 officers to police the hundreds of thousands of 
public servants working throughout the entire state of Tamil Nadu 
(which is approximately the same size as Greece, with a population 
exceeding that of the United Kingdom). 
 
¶11.  (SBU) He noted that even though DVAC has increased 
prosecutions, "the courts take too long" with legal proceedings 
taking five to ten years.  The officials accused of corruption are 
suspended from duty pending adjudication of their cases, Ramanujam 
said, but they continue to receive salaries and benefits.  The long 
delays demoralize enforcement authorities, making it difficult to 
keep staff motivated.  A Chennai journalist who covers official 
corruption told post that the CBI and DVAC are "trying hard but 
corruption in Tamil Nadu is too much" for them to tackle. 
 
Comment:  A long way to go 
--------- 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Comment:  Tamil Nadu has a history of high levels of 
official corruption, which is linked to the ascendance of the Tamil 
nationalist (or "Dravidian") political parties in the 1960s.  But 
corrupt politicians require corrupt bureaucrats to help them skim 
money, so the state's administrative services are riddled with 
graft-seekers.  Stepped up anti-corruption activity by NGOs, law 
enforcement authorities, and the media is a welcome development. 
But the recent arrests and prosecutions have been limited to the 
state's bureaucrats, without reaching political levels.  So long as 
the state's political elite continue to engage in breathtaking graft 
-- as personified by the absurd personal fortunes amassed by Chief 
Minister Karunanidhi and his rival Jayalalithaa -- corruption will 
remain a drag on Tamil Nadu's development.  End comment. 
 
SIMKIN