In a major relief for Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, the Enforcement Directorate gave him a clean chit on Tuesday in the alleged Rs 371 crore skill development corporation scam.
The alleged scam had led to his arrest last year based on a CID investigation instituted by the Jagan Reddy’s government.
Naidu had to spend over 50 days behind bars before securing bail on Oct 31, 2023.
Reports suggest that the ED invoked the Prevention of Money Laundering Act to temporarily attach assets worth Rs 23.5 crore belonging to Designtech Systems Private Ltd and others named in the chargesheet.
According to the central agency's investigation, the company's MD, Vikas Vinayak Khanvelkar, Soumyadri Sekhar Bose, also known as Suman Bose (the former MD of Siemens Industry Software India Pvt Ltd), and their associates, Suresh Goyal and Mukul Chandra Agarwal, allegedly used fictitious invoices to divert government funds through multi-layered transactions via shell companies or defunct entities under the guise of supplying materials or services.
However, it said there was nothing to link Naidu to alleged misappropriation of funds in the skill and entrepreneurship development project in partnership with Siemens.
