Here's what SC said while convicting Sasikala - Top quotes by Justices PC Ghose and Amitava Roy

Chennai: The Supreme Court on Tuesday derailed VK Sasikala's political career even before take-off by upholding her conviction for corruption along with two relatives and the late J Jayalalitha. 

Following is what the apex court said in its verdict:

- "The flow of money from one account to the other proves that there existed active conspiracy to launder the ill-gotten wealth of Jayalalithaa for purchasing properties in the names of the firms," a bench of Justices PC Ghose and Amitava Roy said while convicting Sasikala and her relatives in the 19-year-old disproportionate assets case.

- "The joint residence of all the accused persons also could not be ignored as a factor contributing to the charge of conspiracy and abetment, when assessed together with the attendant facts and circumstances reinforcing the said imputations," the bench said.

- "The unimpeded, frequent and spontaneous inflow of funds from the account of Jayalalithaa to those of the other co-accused and the firms/companies involved, overwhelmingly demonstrate the collective culpable involvement of the respondents in the transactions in the face of their overall orientations so as to render the same to be masked banking exchanges though involving several accounts but mostly of the same bank. No other view is possible," the apex court said.

- The bench said these companies were "operating" from Poes Garden and "it cannot be accepted that she (Jayalalithaa) was unaware of the same even though she feigned ignorance about the activities carried on by Sasikala and two others. They were residing with Jayalalithaa without any blood relation between them". 

- Corruption is the "insatiable vice" for wealth and "unscrupulous" elements take unfair advantage of their power and authority in public office and breach institutional norms, it said.

- "Novelty in the outrages and the magnitude of the nefarious gains as demonstrated by the revelations in the case are startling," the court added.

"A growing impression in contemporary existence seems to acknowledge the all pervading pestilent presence of corruption almost in every walk of life, as if to rest reconciled to the octopoid stranglehold of this malaise with helpless awe. The common day experiences indeed do introduce one with unfailing regularity, the variegated cancerous concoctions of corruption with fearless impunity gnawing into the frame and fabric of nation's essentia," Justice Roy said.

- "Corruption is a vice of insatiable avarice for self-aggrandisement by the unscrupulous, taking unfair advantage of their power and authority and those in public office also, in breach of the institutional norms, mostly backed by minatory loyalists. Both the corrupt and the corrupter are indictable and answerable to the society and the country as a whole. This is more particularly in the peoples' representatives in public life committed by the oath of the office to dedicate oneself to the unqualified welfare of the laity, by faithfully and conscientiously discharging their duties attached thereto in accordance with the Constitution, free from fear or favour or affection or ill-will," Justice Roy further said.

(With PTI inputs)