Assets worth Rs 23.54 crore attached
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has found no involvement of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu in the Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC) Siemens Project case, according to sources within the agency. The ED has attached assets worth Rs 23.54 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in relation to the case.
The investigation stems from a FIR filed by the Andhra Pradesh CID against Designtech Systems Private Limited (DTSPL) and others, accusing them of diverting government funds intended for the Siemens project. The attached assets include bank deposits, shares, and residential properties across Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Pune.
While Naidu was arrested in September last year by the state CID for his alleged involvement in the Rs 371-crore Skill Development scam during his tenure as CM from 2014-2019, the ED’s investigation found no direct role of Naidu in the money laundering activities related to the project.
The investigation revealed that DTSPL’s Managing Director Vikas Vinayak Khanvelkar, former Siemens Industry Software India MD Soumyadri Sekhar Bose, and their associates Mukul Chandra Agarwal and Suresh Goyal siphoned off funds through shell entities and false invoices.
The ED had previously attached fixed deposits worth Rs 31.20 crore of DTSPL and has filed a charge sheet against the accused. Naidu was released on interim bail in October last year, which became permanent in November, allowing him to resume political activities ahead of the 2024 elections.
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