The ED, in its official press release, did not mention Naidu's name. It neither said it gave a clean chit nor that there was evidence against him.
Published Oct 17, 2024 | 2:59 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 17, 2024 | 3:01 PM
Sources indicate that the ED has found no evidence against Naidu in the ongoing investigation. The absence of his involvement in official releases reflects a lack of supporting evidence.
Has the Enforcement Directorate (ED) given a clean chit to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in the multi-crore Skill Development Scam that rocked the state in 2023? Whether or not the ED has, several news reports have already declared a clean chit to Naidu. The fact, however, is more nuanced.
The ED, in its official press release on 15 October 2024, did not mention Chandrababu Naidu’s name anywhere. It neither said it has given clean chit nor had said there was evidence against him. The ED remained silent on the role of Chandrababu Naidu which. The silence is being interpreted as “giving clean chit” to the chief minister. What is crystal clear, however, is that ED is continuing to probe the case.
The ED restricted itself to saying that it had 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 the case.
According to sources, the ED officials have not found any evidence so far in the case against Naidu – a far cry from what Andhra CID’s probe suggested. In the same press release, the ED said investigation was still in progress. Sources said if the ED did not mention Naidu’s involvement in its official release, it was not a clean chit, but simply meant it had found no evidence against him so far in its probe.
The Enforcement Directorate, in the press release, said that its investigation had revealed that Vikas Vinayak Khanvelkar, Managing Director of M/s Design Tech Systems Private Limited (DTSPL), Soumyadri Sekhar Bose alias Suman Bose (Ex-Managing Director of M/s Siemens Industry Software India Pvt. Ltd.) and their close associates, Mukul Chandra Agarwal and Suresh Goyal had diverted the government funds. For this, they used shell/defunct entities on the strength of bogus invoices under the pretext of supply of materials/services.
The ED said that the services of entry providers were taken for effecting 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.
The ED said that it had previously attached Fixed Deposits amounting to Rs. 31.20 Crore of M/s DTSPL which has been confirmed by the Ld. Adjudicating Authority (PMLA). 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 (PMLA), Visakhapatnam.
The ED, after arresting the four persons, filed a prosecution complaint in Visakhapatnam court on 9 May, 2023. The investigation agency initiated a probe into the scam based on the case that CID had filed on misappropriation of Rs.370 crore.
The CID, under the YSRCP dispensation, had alleged that Naidu, when he was the chief minister of the state between 2014 and 2019, had facilitated diversion of funds of Rs.370 crore which amounted to criminal breach of trust, cheating and corruption.
The CID had said that Naidu played a crucial role in approving the appointment of key officials in the APSSDC without proper authorisation, fast-tracking the project, and approving cost estimations with criminal intent.
After the issue of the official release by the ED, the political mill is working overtime whether the seizure of the assets had anything to do with BJP’s way of telling Naidu subtly that the case was still alive. By not saying whether there was evidence against him or not, the centre had left the scope open for interpretation that it is in a clean chit. The ED however did not say officially that Naidu is off the hook, as yet.
There is speculation that the silence of the ED on whether or not there is evidence against Naidu is also being seen as the centre’s move to keep the TDP camp in suspense about what the future course would be like. One political analyst said that since the TDP is in the NDA, it cannot allow admission that there is a case against the TDP but at the same it cannot say officially there is no evidence against him either, as it may embolden him further which might lead to the BJP t0 lose the slender grip that it may have on Chandrababu Naidu.
Retied Senior IPS officer VK Singh says that one cannot infer that an investigation agency has given a clean chit when it does not say so expressly. “If a court orders an investigation into someone and if the agency finds no evidence, then in would file an affidavit in the court saying that there were no charges against the person concerned. If there is no court directive to investigate a case, the agency need not inform the court that in its investigation it did not find any evidence against a person,” he told South First.
(Edited by Ananya Rao)
