The Enforcement Directorate (ED) logo.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Hyderabad: Enforcement Directorate (ED), Hyderabad Zonal Office has provisionally attached immovable and movable properties amounting to Rs 23.54 crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in a case relating to misuse of funds in the Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC) Siemens Project.
The said project was meant to promote skill development & entrepreneurship in the state. The ED initiated an investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the Andhra Pradesh CID in the case of APSSDC Siemens Project against M/s Designtech Systems Private Limited (DTSPL) and others for cheating the Andhra Pradesh government by diverting and siphoning off funds invested by the government in the Siemens project for other purposes.
It was in this case that the current chief minister of Andhra Pradesh N Chandrababu Naidu - who was in Opposition back then - was arrested last year. Naidu was one of the accused in this case.
The ED investigation revealed that Vikas Vinayak Khanvelkar, Managing Director of M/s DTSPL, Soumyadri Sekhar Bose alias Suman Bose, who was a former Managing Director of M/s Siemens Industry Software India Pvt. Ltd., and their close associates Mukul Chandra Agarwal and Suresh Goyal diverted the government funds with the help of shell/defunct entities through multi-layered transactions and siphoned them off on the strength of bogus invoices under the pretext of supply of materials/services.
The services of entry providers were taken for the diversion of funds for which commission was paid to them. The Proceeds of Crime in the hands of the said accused persons and entry providers were identified and various movable properties in the form of bank balances and shares, and also immovable properties in the form of residential properties in Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Pune were traced and attached.
Previously, the ED had attached Fixed Deposits of M/s DTSPL amounting to Rs 31.20 crore. The ED had also arrested Vikas Vinayak Khanvelkar, Suman Bose, Mukul Chandra Agarwal and Suresh Goyal; and filed a prosecution complaint before the Special Court for PMLA cases in Visakhapatnam. The court has taken cognizance of the same. Further investigation is under progress.