ED grills TRS legislator Manchireddy in FEMA case

Hyderabad: Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials questioned TRS legislator Manchireddy Kishan Reddy in connection with investments made in gold mining companies abroad and alleged illegal financial transactions. The Directorate had earlier registered a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) case against Kishan Reddy, who represents Ibrahimpatnam Assembly constituency.

The grilling went on for nine hours. The ED asked the MLA to appear for questioning again on Wednesday. 

Sources said that the investigation agency noticed illegal transactions made by Kishan Reddy for the past few months and registered a case under FEMA Act. A few days ago, it served a notice asking him to appear before the agency for questioning.

"The legislator had allegedly invested in gold mine companies in Indonesia. Huge amounts were illegally transferred to his account from Indonesia and other countries. Some suspicious transactions between him and others were found, and this FEMA Act," sources said.

ED officials reportedly grilled the MLA in connection with his sources of income, business activities and bank account details. The ED officials, who are also probing the casino case, also allegedly sought to know Manchireddy Kishan Reddy’s direct or indirect involvement in gambling activities. In an attempt to establish links with suspects in the casino case, the investigation agency focused on hawala transactions.

Sources further stated that ED officials recorded his statements with regard to his financial transactions that were found suspicious. Manchireddy Kishan Reddy had allegedly invested in gold mines in Indonesia way back in 2015.

The casino case refers to one Chikoti Praveen Kumar arranging casino gambling in Goa and Nepal in which the involvement of politicians and Tollywood bigwigs is suspected.

This newspaper had previously reported that Kumar allegedly had links with more than 16 MLAs in different states. ED officials suspected that Kumar transported money, received from hawala transactions, to India. Kumar was grilled by the Enforcement Directorate previously.

Kumar’s aide Madhav Reddy and close associate Sampath were also questioned by the ED.