Enforcement Directorate steps in to probe money laundering in Amaravati

VIJAYAWADA: Investigation into alleged insider trading in Amaravati is set to pick up pace with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also stepping in, just over a week after the Crime Investigation Department (CID) of Andhra Pradesh requested the agency to verify  “any commission of money laundering or fraudulent activity done by wilfully suppressing the facts”.

A senior official in the ED indicated to TNIE that an enforcement case information report (ECIR) was filed based on details shared by the AP CID. “It is under examination,” another ED official said. Registration of an ECIR is the first step to initiate any process under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Official sources in the government also confirmed to TNIE that the ED’s zonal office in Hyderabad has filed a case information report.

Additional DG (CID) Sunil Kumar had earlier sent letters to the ED and the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Andhra Pradesh to inform them of the outcome of the agency’s investigation and request them to initiate enquiries and share the result of the same so that suitable action could be taken as per law.
In his letter to the Regional Special Director, Southern Region of the Enforcement Directorate, Kumar referred to the complaint lodged by one P Bujji of Venkatapalem in Guntur district with the CID about the fraudulent sale-cum-agreement done in her land in October 2015. During investigation, it came to the notice of the CID that huge cash transactions and numerous land registrations were done prior to the declaration of Amaravati as the State capital.

In the examination of SRO records and after in-depth investigation, it was revealed that 797 white ration card holders purchased land to an extent of 761.34 acres worth Rs 276 crore, Kumar reportedly explained in the letter. Of the 797 white ration card holders, only 273 have PAN cards.

The CID has already registered a case against former ministers and TDP leaders P Narayana and Pratipati Pulla Rao based on probe into the complaint lodged by Bujji from Venkatapalem.

In the letter to the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Sunil Kumar noted that the white ration card holders purchased lands in the Amaravati region by spending huge money and most of them were cash transactions -- pointing out that they did not declare their income and were evading income tax. The CID ADG also forwarded a list of suspicious land transactions along with the missive.