Tuesday 23 June 2015

Jayalalitha verdict challenged in Indian Supreme Court

BBC News
The government of the southern Indian state of Karnataka has appealed against a verdict clearing popular politician Jayalalitha Jayaram of corruption.
The high court order in May allowed her to return as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu state.
She had to step down after a trial court found her guilty of amassing wealth of more than $10m (£6.4m)
The case was heard in Karnataka because of concerns the process would not be fair in Tamil Nadu.
On Tuesday, the Karnataka government lodged an appeal in the Supreme Court asking it to set aside the high court verdict and restore Ms Jayalalitha's disqualification.
The Supreme court is expected to hear the appeal only after the end of court vacations in a few weeks.
Karnataka's special public prosecutor, BV Acharya, had told BBC Hindi soon after Ms Jayalalitha's acquittal on 11 May that the high court verdict was riddled with "arithmetical errors'" and alleged that the prosecution was not given an opportunity to present its case.
In overturning the guilty verdict against Ms Jayalalitha, the appeals court had said that the "disproportionate assets" owned by the Tamil Nadu chief minister were less than 10% of her total wealth and were, therefore, not irregular.
Mr Acharya contends that the appeals court got its figures entirely wrong.
He claims that instead of adding up Ms Jayalalitha's assets to 240m rupees ($3.8m; £2.4m), the judgement had wrongly put the figure at 100m rupees.
Similar discrepancies had been pointed out in evaluating her properties, he adds.
Jayalalitha, a former actress, is one of India's most controversial and colourful politicians. She has been a leading figure in south Indian politics for three decades.

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