South Indian Artistes’ Association (Nadigar Sangam) President Nasser and Secretary General Vishal have refuted allegations of corruption. The duo were accused of swindling three crore rupees from the Nadigar Sangam fund. Varagi, a member of the Nadigar Sagam and an RTI Activist made these allegations last week.
Speaking to Silverscreen.in, Varagi said, “The new council promised they would have a very transparent system. But there are a lot of clandestine activities within the Sangam. They have strong political affiliations with the DMK. We also have reasons to believe that the present council has scammed crores worth of money from the fund allocated for the new Nadigar Sangam building.”
Varagi added that he had been trying to discuss this issue with the Nadigar Sangam since August 3 and alleged that they [Nadigar Sangam members] were not willing to meet him.
In response to these allegations, Actor Vishal said, “In the present Nadigar Sangam, we have nothing to hide. Everything is transparent. We have proof that all the allegations against me are wrong, and we will reveal this soon. We will come up with a list of irregularities by the previous members in 10 days.”
Varagi filed a complaint regarding the issue with the Commissioner’s office on Monday. A short while later, Nasser, accompanied by actors Ajay Rathnam and Manobala, Nasser filed a complaint accusing Varagi of tarnishing the image of the Nadigar Sangam. In his complaint, Nasser said:
Varagi had arrived at the premise of Nadigar Sangam on Saturday to discuss his allegations. However, he refused to engage in a conversation since the board members were not present. He then created a ruckus in front of the office along with some hired rogues. Varagi also threatened to hurt the office members and shouted obscenities at them, according to the complaint. Varagi denied these accusations saying that it was in fact Nasser who had hired goons to threaten him.
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Following the meeting with the Commissioner, actor Nasser addressed the media and reiterated Vishal’s earlier statements. He said, “These accusations are baseless. We subject all our documents to intense scrutiny and we have a very transparent system. Anyone is free to inspect our documents any time.”
Nasser added that the association will convene a special meeting later this week to decide the future course of action regarding this issue.