The CBI has said that former Infrastructure and Investments Minister Mopidevi Venkataramana Rao went against the advice of his own Department in sanctioning the Rs. 16,000 crore Vanpic project to Mr. Nimmagadda Prasad.
The Minister contradicted the remarks of officials in his own handwriting in the note file, the counsel for CBI Balla Ravindranath said while producing the file to the principal court for CBI cases on Tuesday.
The court heard the bail petition of Mr. Rao for the second day and reserved its order for Thursday.
Mr. Ravindranath said the note file itself differed from the memorandum of understanding signed by the State government with Ras-al-Khaimah government of UAE represented by Mr. Prasad. While the MoU envisaged allotment of land for the project within 30 km radius of Vodarevu and Nizampatnam ports, the land acquisition extended till 30 kms on the northern side of one port and 30 kms on the southern end of another port.
Thus, a total of 10,000 acres in Prakasam and 18,000 acres in Guntur districts was set for acquisition.
Another deviation from the MoU was the introduction of a clause in the concession agreement which allowed the developer company to retain the land and structures. But the MoU was actually signed to return the land and structures to the government initially after 33 years of lease and, if found satisfactory, the lease period could be extended by 11 years each in two phases.
‘Cabinet not informed'
The company should pay for the cost of the land and the same would be adjusted against the lease amount to be paid to the government. These issues were discussed at the departmental meeting chaired by YSR but they were deliberately not disclosed in the Cabinet meeting the next day, Mr. Ravindranath said.
He added that the Minister was solely responsible for a huge chunk of land allotted to industrial corridor of Vanpic project going to Mr. Prasad as he held 70 per cent stake in the special purpose vehicle. His action amounted to cheating the government. The CBI wanted to inquire the role of officers who aided the deal.
The defence counsel C. Padmanabha Reddy denied any variation between MoU and the concession agreement approved by the government. The agreement to acquire land within a radius of 30 km from the port was only tentative.
