Amaravati, Sept 9: TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu was on Saturday named as the ‘principal conspirator’ by the Andhra Pradesh police in the Skill Development Corporation scam, causing a loss of Rs 300 crore to the state government.
Naidu was arrested in connection with the fraud in an early morning police operation which involved officers knocking on the door of the caravan in which he was sleeping.
The former CM was arrested by the CID police around 6 am from a marriage hall (outside which his caravan was parked) at Gnanapuram in Nandyal.
Addressing reporters after Naidu’s arrest, AP CID Chief N Sanjay said the investigation implicated the former AP CM and TDP as beneficiaries of misappropriation of funds. “This case revolves around the establishment of clusters of Centers of Excellence (CoEs) in the state of Andhra Pradesh, with a total estimated project value of Rs 3,300 crores. The alleged fraud has caused huge loss to the Government of Andhra Pradesh in excess of Rs 300 crores,” noted Sanjay, addressing a press conference at the CID office in Mangalagiri.
Reacting to his arrest, Naidu in a post on X (formerly Twitter), said, “For the past 45 years, I have selflessly served Telugu people. I am prepared to sacrifice my life to safeguard the interests of Telugu people. No force on earth can stop me from serving Telugu people, my #AndhraPradesh and my motherland.” “Finally, truth and dharma will triumph. Whatever they do to me, I will march forward for the people,” he said.
Elaborating further, the CID official said, “the principal conspirator behind the entire scheme and who orchestrated the transfer of public funds from government to private entities via shell companies has taken place with the act of leadership of Nara Chandrababu Naidu.”
Naidu possesses the exclusive knowledge of transactions leading to the issuing of government orders and MoUs from time to time which makes him the “central figure” of the investigation, he said, adding that Naidu’s custodial interrogation is required.
The skill development case pertains to the setting up of clusters of centres of excellence (CoE) in the southern state with the total estimate of the project valued at Rs 3,300 crore but ended up causing a loss in excess of Rs 300 crore to the state government.
Before the private entities involved in this project could spend any money, the state government released an advance of Rs 371 crore, which is 10 percent of the government’s commitment.
The money released by the state government was diverted to shell companies through fake invoices while no delivery or sale of the items mentioned in the invoices took place. Some of the shell companies were also located in Singapore.
Further, he said that departing from the official procedure, a portion of the funds was used to create CoE clusters while the remaining amount was routed to shell companies.
According to Sanjay, the statement of public officials recorded under section 164 CrPC clearly points to the involvement of former AP CM as the principal decision maker to release the money in advance. The charges in the case carry penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment while custodial interrogation is deemed necessary to uncover all the asp ects of the financial fraud. (PTI)
The ADGP noted that the Enforcement Directorate and GST authorities have already investigated this case.
