By Mubasshir Mushtaq
NEW DELHI
A high-profile Indian politician has been convicted and sentenced to four years in prison in a corruption case Saturday.
In a landmark ruling, which sent shockwaves through political circles, a special court in Bangalore city sentenced Jayalalithaa, regional political leader and chief minister of the southern state of Tamil Nadu, to four years in jail in an 18 year-old disproportionate assets case.
Jayalalithaa, head of the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party, was found guilty of holding assets worth $10 million that were “disproportionate” to her income, special judge John Michael D’Cunha ruled.
Three close associates of Jayalalithaa were also convicted in the case.
Judge D’Cunha convicted Jayalalithaa and her three associates for criminal conspiracy, abetment and criminal misconduct by a public servant.
The judge also imposed $16 million fine on the four-time chief minister. If Jayalalithaa fails to pay the fine, she will have to serve one additional year in jail.
Jayalalithaa was directly taken to Bangalore’s central jail for a medical check before being formally arrested.
Jayalalithaa stood disqualified from the chief minister’s post since the sentence is greater than two years. She is the first chief minister to be disqualified.
Members of her party protested the verdict terming it a “political vendetta,” a charge dismissed by the court. They resorted to violence in Tamil Nadu, targeting shops and public buses.
The 18-year old case against Jayalalithaa was filed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy who had alleged that the chief minister had amassed wealth disproportionate to her income between 1991 and 1996, her first tenure as the chief minister.
Jayalalithaa is a powerful political figure in Southern India. Her party won 37 of 39 Tamil Nadu seats in the May 2014 elections for the lower house of the Indian parliament.
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