War of words between Vijaysai Reddy & Sujana Chowdary in AP

Hyderabad: The war of words between the two Rajya Sabha members from Andhra Pradesh has now drawn the attention of the headquarters of both the YSRCP and the BJP. The sudden appearance of a copy of YSRCP national general secretary V Vijaysai Reddy’s letter to President Ramnath Kovind, levelling money laundering allegations against BJP MP Sujana Chowdary, has become a hot topic in the political corridors.

It was Vijaysai Reddy who wrote to the President on September 26, urging him to order a probe by the Enforcement Directorate and CBI into the activities of Sujana Chowdary, whom he called an international scamster, money launderer and a master of fraudulent companies.

With this latest war of words, the distance between YSRCP and BJP seems to have widened more. Sujana’s proximity to the BJP headquarters has further lessened the bondage of Vijaysai with the PMO and Prime Minister Modi, sources said and added that this is the prime reason for Vijaysai to concentrate more on Sujana’s activities.

In his letter to the President, Vijaysai said Sujana directly owns and controls Sujana Universal industries, Sujana metal products and Sujana towers and 102 other companies. Except for eight companies, he said, all the other companies of Sujana Chowdary were involved in circular trading, book building and money laundering, and tax evasion.

In the functioning of 8 companies, 50 percent of the business is generated via shell companies, Vijaysai alleged and added that another 20 to 25 percent is generated from the foreign shell companies controlled indirectly by the Sujana group.

“It may be interested to note that about 4-5 offices (41, 34 and 60 of Nagarjuna Hills, Jubilee Hills site (fondly referred to as AGM site)-which was recently relocated to a new premises, Road# 10 C, Jubilee Hills) are used to house dozens of accounting/finance professionals, who are involved in creating fake bills, books and bank trails," wrote Vijaysai. He said any investigation agency will need 2-3 days to make out the circular transaction trails.

Vijaysai’s major allegation is that the Sujana group owes Rs 8,000 crore to different banks and financial institutions, whereas its market capitalisation is just Rs132 crore. The shareholders of these publicly listed companies are at a huge loss, Vijaysai observed.

Sujana Universal and Sujana towers together have defaulted loans worth Rs 920 crore taken from state-run Central Bank of India and Bank of India. Between fiscal years 2011-2014, the debt burden on the books of Sujana towers grew to Rs 1,750 crore from Rs 565 crore and market capitalisation declined to Rs 37 crore from Rs 1,534 crore, Vijaysai Reddy has elaborated. He also mentioned about Singapore, Mauritius, Dubai and USA, and urged the President to order an inquiry by the ED and CBI. This inquiry has to be hastened and Sujana has to be restrained from leaving the country until then, he wrote.

Sujana has rubbished the charges by Vijaysai. In a counter-statement, the BJP MP has termed Vijaysai a confirmed criminal. He said Vijaysai was in jail for 16 months and his letter to the President was sent to the Home Ministry on November 6. Sujana accused Vijaysai of resorting to cheap tricks only to malign his reputation. Sujana added, “By showing the acknowledgement of the letter, Vijaysai has been trying to tarnish my image."