TIRUVANNAMALAI: No funds or assets were seized by I-T personnel during searches carried out in properties owned by me or my family members in the last five days, Minister EV Velu told reporters around 10 pm on Tuesday.
“Money might have been seized from real estate companies over the past two days, but there is no connection between these companies and me. I will take full responsibility if the slightest amount of money is found in my residence, my wife’s place, or my sons’ homes or within the college campuses. I cannot be held accountable for independent financial transactions of these institutions during the course of the audit,” Velu said.
The minister also said I-T officials intimidated and grilled his driver during the operation. Velu said he has no association with Saraswathi Ammal Educational Trust set up in 1991, except for initiating its establishment, and his eldest son currently overseeing it.
“DMK workers, administrators, district secretaries, and ministers are being threatened only because Lok Sabha election is scheduled in 2024,” Velu said, adding he owns 48 acres and 33 cents of land in his name.
He said the land given to him by the housing society in Gandhi nagar has been given on lease for 33 years to build a hospital. “In Chennai, I have just one house,” he added.