An Indian court has sentenced the top elected official of the southern state of Tamil Nadu to four years in prison for corruption in a case that was filed 18 years ago. The judge held Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram “guilty of amassing wealth disproportionate to known sources of her income,” prosecutor G Bhavani Singh told reporters outside the court earlier on Saturday. She was sentenced to four years in jail a few hours later. Jayalalitha, 66, was accused in 1996 of amassing a fortune of 660 million rupees ($11 million) at a time when she was taking a token 1 rupee as her monthly salary.
I think it’s very difficult for her to escape it because the facts are very clear. She claimed a salary of one rupee per year and ultimately amassed in 5 years, 66 crores. How is that possible?
Subramanian Swamy, the leader of rival Bharatiya Janata Party and the main complainant in the case
Jayalalitha joined politics in the early 1980s after a successful film career in southern India that included appearances in nearly 150 movies. She has had three stints as chief minister of Tamil Nadu, including her latest one, which began in May 2011. In addition to the jail sentence, the court fined Jayalalitha 250 million rupees ($4.7 million). She will seek bail from a higher court, the prosecutor’s office said.