CHENNAI: A section of filmmakers affiliated to the Tamil Nadu Film Producers’ Council (TNFPC) have alleged financial irregularities, graft and misappropriation of funds worth Rs 1.8 crore in a deal signed between former office-bearers of the apex body and cable TV companies during 2007-2010.Led by S A Chandrasekaran, TNFPC president (in charge) and father of actor Vijay, a delegation of producers met Police Commissioner J K Tripathy and submitted a complaint on Tuesday. Talking to reporters later, Chandrasekaran said that at the TNFPC meet on Sunday, around 60 producers alleged that revenue to the tune of Rs 1.8 crore owed by cable companies to the council under various agreements had been misappropriated by former office-bearers of the body. In the petition to the CoP, the producers alleged that the council signed an agreement with two cable companies, J K Media and Win Media, on February 18, 2007 and March 1, 2007 on telecast of Tamil film clippings. As per the deal, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry were divided into 32 divisions and the companies were allotted an equal number of areas. The then TFPC president Ramanarayanan, secretaries Sivasakthi Pandian and K S Srinivasan, vice-presidents Kajamoideen and Anbalaya Prabhakaran and treasurer Azhagan Tamizhmani inked the agreement on behalf of the producers’ body. It was agreed that each company must pay `65,000 for each film. Stating that 108 films were released in 2007, the complaint claimed that the estimated revenue was `1,40,40,000. Even as the agreement was in vogue, Ramanarayanan and Azhagan Tamizhmani signed a new deal with Tamil Nadu Local Private Channel Owners Welfare Association (TNLPCOWA), which agreed to pay `5 lakh a month. “The new association was set up by the two cable TV companies,” the petition said. Similar agreements were signed between the council and the association on March 18, 2008, with the latter agreeing to make a monthly payment of `3.5 lakh, and again on April 3, 2009 (Rs 3.6 lakh monthly payment).After the agreement ended on April 2, 2010, a new one was inked only after six months, thus causing a loss of Rs 21,60,000. On October 1, 2010, a fresh deal was signed, under which the association agreed to pay Rs 3.6 lakh per month. Of the total of `3,05,40,000, the council got just Rs 1,23,46,500. But the cable companies said that they paid the TNFPC in full. The producers urged the police to help recover the remaining amount.
Comments
0 comment