Loan fraud case: Raju’s firm paid Rs 22cr to ghost company

Hyderabad: The CBI investigation into the Rs 826 crore loan fraud case of rebel YSRC MP K Raghurama Krishnam Raju has revealed that one of the companies to which Rs 22 crore has been paid does not exist at the address it was registered.
CBI in the FIR on October 6 said Sokeo Power Private Limited against which Rs 22 crore was adjusted was found to be non-existing. “The company has not filed any claim during the corporate insolvency resolution (CIR) process. This can be construed as illegal and non-disclosure by the company with respect to the alleged payment to Sokeo Power,” CBI said.
The investigating agency said the company was not in the given address. “Had the dues been valid, the company would have filed its claim in the capacity of an operational creditor with the resolution professional in the CIR process,” it said.
CBI investigations found that Rs 126 crore recoverable from a customer Tangedco was adjusted against the amount payable to various vendors and additionally Rs 177 crore recoverable from related parties were also adjusted against the amount payable to various parties for which there was no valid confirmation.
The company submitted confirmations for 12 vendors to the tune of Rs 114 crore, but failed to submit the adjustment of balance sum of Rs 51 crore to them, including Sokeo. However, as per ministry of corporate affairs records, Sokeo Power is still active and has registered the address at KPHB.
Ind-Barath Power Infra Ltd, owned by the MP, also failed to submit documents for adjustment of Rs 16 crore related to Sree Saastha Minerals Private Limited. The company claimed that it had taken unsecured loans from some parties, including Sokeo Power.
It also claimed that the unsecured loans were adjusted with receivables from its holding company Ind-Bharat Power. The central bureau of investigation alleged that there was no proper record or documents to indicate the actual payments. In fact, the liability is still standing in the books of the holding company. This has resulted in paying unsecured loans in preference to secured lenders, it said.