ED grills Congress Chennur MLA Dr Gaddam Vivekanand over transfer of Rs 8 crores in FEMA case

Hyderabad: Congress Chennur MLA Dr Gaddam Vivekanand was grilled by the sleuths of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) regarding the FEMA case booked against him. The ED officials questioned the MLA on the Rs 8 crore transactions between his bank account and the vigilance security.

Days before the Telangana State elections, the ED sleuths seized crores of unaccounted cash, digital evidence and other incriminating documents from G Vivekananda. The raids took place after Vivekananda quit the BJP and was announced as the Congress candidate for Chennur Assembly seat. According to his affidavit, he was one of the richest candidates who fought and won the elections.

The investigating agency conducted searches at four locations in Telangana on November 21, 2023, days ahead of the Telangana Assembly elections.

The searches were conducted at the residences of Dr Gaddam Vivekanand at Hyderabad as well as the office premises of Visaka Industries Ltd in Hyderabad and the Vigilance Security Services Pvt Ltd at Ramagundam. Searches were also conducted at his temporary place of residence at Hitech City, Mancherial where he was found.

The ED initiated the investigation based on a reference from Telangana Police to investigate a transaction of Rs 8 crores from the bank account of Dr G Vivek to Vigilance Security.

What did ED probe find?

The ED investigation revealed that the bank account of Vigilance Security was being used to circuitously transfer money with no real business rationale and that Dr G Vivek, his wife and their company Visaka Industries had transactions of more than Rs 100 crores with Vigilance Security.

However, the entity declared a mere Rs 20 lakhs as ‘revenue from operations’ in its latest balance sheet whereas it reported assets worth Rs 64 crores mainly long-term loans/advances. Since inception, credit and debit transactions in the company’s impugned bank account were found to be more than Rs 200 crores. The investigation also revealed indirect control of Dr G Vivek over Vigilance Security.

The ED investigation further revealed prima facie FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act) contraventions by Vigilance Security Services and its parent company Yeshwant Realtors, whose majority shares are held by a foreign national. FEMA violations were also noticed in the incorporation of an entity by Dr G Vivek in a foreign tax-haven country.

Search operations resulted in the recovery and seizure of digital devices and incriminating documents indicating suspicious/unaccounted transactions worth several crores as well as the use of unaccounted cash in property deals. Seized documents also revealed large-scale Inter-Corporate Deposits (ICDs) within group companies having no legitimate business but holding huge land assets. Searches also confirmed the bogus nature of Vigilance Security Services which was found non-existent at its declared addresses.