CHENNAI: Anti-corruption crusader, activist and former IAS officer Mr.U.Sagayam has made a huge revelation yesterday that he was offered Rs.200 crores as bribe by granite lobby to go slow in the granite scam report when he was conducting probe into the granite scam in Madurai district which caused huge losses to the Tamil Nadu government exchequer.
“My aim has always been to be a honest, no corruption IAS officer. I followed that in my career. Corruption should be fought at all levels and I am committed to that cause. When the multi-crore granite scam was unearthed in Madurai district, there was a group that offered Rs.200 crores to give the investigation report in the way they wanted. So, imagine what is happening. I am Sagayam and I did my duty in that granite scam probe as per facts and figures,” he said.
Mr.U.Sagayam made this important point on February 9th 2024 at the Rotary International District 3000 annual conference ‘Aram’, which is being held at Mahabalipuram near Chennai from February 9th to 11th 2024.
He was the court appointed Legal Commissioner to conduct a thorough probe into the granite quarries scam in Madurai district during the year 2012, where the issue was major violations by granite quarries in collusion with some officers, resulting losses of Rs.16,000 crores to the State government.
SENIOR JOURNALISTS SHOCKED:
The granite probe bribe offer made to IAS officer U.Sagayam has shocked journalists and the media fraternity who covered the scam issue during the time of investigation.
Mr.S.Kathiravan, senior journalist and president of Madurai Reporter’s Guild, has said today that it is very shocking that such a thing had happened to a honest IAS officer like Mr.U.Sagayam.
“I know him and I know his integrity. As a journalist, I wrote about the granite scam investigation at that time. What happened to Mr.Sagayam was very shocking, he faced several threats, he was under lot of pressure at that time. But, he pursued his investigation very honestly, infact he never succumbed to any pressure and that is the reason Mr.Sagayam was transferred several times in his career,” journalist Mr.Kathiravan told ‘Lotus Times’ today.
