Jaya case: did the judge get the math wrong?

Did a basic arithmetical blunder contribute to the acquittal of AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets case? The judgment of the Karnataka High Court, which upheld the appeal of the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, has come under scrutiny with political rivals and lawyers claiming that Justice CR Kumaraswamy got his sums wrong.

The controversy relates to the manner in which the judge calculated the loans from public sector banks availed by the four accused — Jayalaithaa, her confidante Sasikala and relatives Ilavarasi and VN Sudhakaran — and their companies. The judge maintained that these loans must be treated as income, thus reducing the gap between Jayalaithaa’s assets and her known sources of income.

At issue is how much of her assets were disproportionate. Justice Kumaraswamy has put it at only 8.12 per cent, or within the permissible limit of 10 per cent as laid down in a Supreme Court judgment. But if he erred in adding the loan amounts, then the figure is well beyond this limit.

Special Public Prosecutor BV Acharya, who appeared in this case, also pointed to glaring errors in the calculation of loans. He said Jayalalithaa’s total disproportionate assets work out to ₹16.34 crore and not ₹2.82 crore, as per the judgment — that is, 76 per cent and not 8.12 per cent.

In Page 852, the judge says the prosecution has not factored income of the accused that came by way of loans from nationalised banks. The judge says loans totalled ₹24,17,31,274 (see table) . But as the actual figure is ₹10,67,31,274, there appears to be a difference of about ₹14 crore. The disproportionate assets thus total around ₹16 crore against the court’s ₹2 crore figure.

“The fundamental mistake is in totalling 10 items of the loan. If a Supreme Court appeal is decided (made), this will be an excellent point to prove acquittal of Jaya is wrong,” said Acharya. “We have to examine whether the High Court itself can correct this arithmetical error,” he added.

Jayalalithaa’s arch rival, DMK Chief M Karunanidhi, too, said: “Anybody who knows simple mathematics will find that they total up to ₹10,67,31,274. It is based on this amount (₹24,17,31,274) that the judge ruled that the ₹66-crore disproportionate assets case is wrong and acquitted them,” he said in a press statement. He urged the Karnataka government to file a petition in the apex court.

Other opposition parties in Tamil Nadu, including the Congress and the PMK (Pattali Makkal Katchi) have also issued statements saying the judgment had errors, and asked the Karnataka Government to move the Supreme Court. Subramanian Swamy, the original complainant in the case, also tweeted that in his appeal to the Supreme Court he would prove that the Karnataka High Court judgment was a tragedy of arithmetic errors. “JJ will have to resign again if CM (sic) .”

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