The Adjudicating Authority under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Tuesday confirmed the attachment of assets worth Rs.863 crore allegedly belonging to YSR Congress leader Jaganmohan Reddy and industrialist Nimmagadda Prasad and their companies.
The Enforcement Directorate had in March provisionally attached the properties in connection with allegations of corruption, cheating, fraud and falsification of accounts against Mr. Reddy and others. The ED is probing the allegations on the basis of a charge-sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation pertaining to alleged irregularities in the Vadarevu and Nizampatnam Industrial Corridor (VANPIC) project under which two seaports at Vadarevu and Nizampatnam were to be developed. A port-based industrial corridor project in Prakasam and Guntur districts of Andhra Pradesh also came under the scanner. The charge-sheet alleged that concessions in the form of alienation of huge chunks of government land for the companies floated by Mr. Prasad were extended to the project. The CBI alleged that an illegal gain of Rs.1,426.17 crore had gone to Mr. Prasad in land acquisition and as a quid pro quo, Rs.854.54 crore was paid to Mr. Reddy and his companies.
