The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Wednesday that it carried out searches at nine locations in Telangana linked to Gaddam Vinod, and former India cricketers Shivlal Yadav and Arshad Ayub, who served as the President, Vice-President and Secretary of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), respectively, in connection with a money laundering probe.
Vinod is the brother of Congress leader G. Vivekanand, who is contesting the November 30 Assembly elections from Chennur in Mancherial district,
The ED said in a statement said that it carried out searches under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at nine locations on Tuesday, including the residences of Vinod, Yadav and Ayub.
“Searches were also conducted at the office premises of SS Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and the residential premises of its MD, Satyanarayana,” the ED said.
The agency said the searches resulted in the recovery and seizure of digital devices, incriminating documents and Rs 10.39 lakh unaccounted cash.
“Search at one of the premises of Vinod revealed that it was being used as an office for several companies owned or controlled by his brother Gaddam Vivekanand, a former MP, who recently quit the BJP and joined the Congress,” the ED said.
The ED said that it had registered a case on the basis of three FIRs filed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Hyderabad, and the corresponding charge sheets filed by the ACB relating to criminal misappropriation of funds of the Hyderabad Cricket Association to the tune of Rs 20 crore.
The ED said the charge sheets contain allegations of serious irregularities in the procurement of DG sets, firefighting systems and canopies for the Rajiv Gandhi Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad.
It also said that as per the charge sheets, despite deadlines, several works were delayed inordinately leading to escalated costs and budget enhancements and corresponding losses to the HCA.
It was also revealed that the office bearers of HCA, including its then Secretary, President and Vice-President and others, in collusion with private parties arbitrarily got various tenders and works allotted to preferred vendors or contractors at higher than market rates without following proper tender processes, and in many cases even before the receipt of quotations.
Advance payments were made to many contractors but no work was done by them, the ED said.
The agency said the searches at the said premises also led to seizure of incriminating documents, which reveal that Visaka Industries and its group companies have been regularly indulging in large value cash transactions and cash payments related to their real estate activities.
“Further, several instances of receipt of cash from various persons and passing of adjustment entries in such real estate companies’ books for accommodating such transactions have been noticed from the seized documents,” it added.
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