Chennai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has written directly to the Tamil Nadu chief secretary seeking prosecution sanction against former minister and current MLA V Senthil Balaji in the alleged cash-for-jobs scam, marking the latest development in the long-running money laundering case.

In a letter dated May 15, 2026, the ED said it had already filed a prosecution complaint before the special PMLA court in Chennai on August 12, 2023, naming Balaji as accused number one under Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The court took cognisance of the complaint on August 14, 2023.

According to the ED, as reported by The New Indian Express, Balaji allegedly ran a “systematic bribe-collection racket” during his tenure as Tamil Nadu transport minister between 2011 and 2016 through his brother RV Ashok Kumar and personal aides B Shanmugam and M Karthikeyan.

The agency alleged that the former minister used his official residence and staff to oversee the alleged “job sale” process and issued direct instructions to State Transport Undertaking (STU) managing directors to recruit candidates from his recommended lists, bypassing merit and reservation norms.

The ED said it had initially sent its request for prosecution sanction through the governor’s office in May 2025. The governor forwarded the request to the chief secretary on September 11, 2025. However, the chief secretary reportedly returned it the following month on what the ED described as “trivial grounds”, asking the agency to approach the state government directly.

The governor’s office later returned the communication to the ED in February 2026 with similar instructions.

The agency also cited a November 2024 Supreme Court ruling in Directorate of Enforcement vs Bibhu Prasad Acharya, which held that prosecution sanction under Section 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) is required even in PMLA cases involving public servants.

The latest ED move comes even as the Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere with the Madras High Court’s order transferring the probe into alleged transformer tender irregularities linked to Balaji’s tenure as Tamil Nadu electricity minister to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

“We are not inclined to interfere with the impugned judgment(s)/order(s) of the High Court. Accordingly, the Special Leave Petition(s) is/are dismissed,” a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said in its order.

The apex court was hearing appeals challenging the Madras High Court’s April 29 order transferring the investigation from the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) to the CBI.

During the hearing, Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) withdrew its appeal against the High Court order.

“Learned counsel for the petitioner(s), upon instructions, submits that the present petition(s) may be permitted to be withdrawn Permission, as prayed for, is granted. The special leave petition(s) is/are dismissed as withdrawn,” the Supreme Court said.

Another appeal filed by V Kasi was also dismissed.

The Supreme Court clarified that the CBI investigation would proceed independently and would not be influenced by observations made by the Madras High Court.

In its earlier order, the High Court had raised concerns over the manner in which the DVAC handled the transformer tender probe, observing that the enquiry lacked fairness and credibility.

The bench noted that despite detailed complaints, the agency had failed to register an FIR and allowed the enquiry to remain pending for more than three years while limiting the probe to only one official despite multiple names figuring in the allegations.

The case relates to 10 tenders issued by TANGEDCO between 2021 and 2023 for the procurement of nearly 45,800 distribution transformers worth around Rs 1,183 crore during Balaji’s tenure as electricity minister.