Regular Bail: AP Moves SC to Set Aside HC Order in Skill Scam Case

Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh government moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday, filing a special leave petition (SLP) to set aside the AP High Court order granting regular bail to Telugu Desam president Nara Chandrababu Naidu in the AP Skill Development Corporation scam case.

The SLP was filed on the ground that the HC order was prima facie unsustainable.

The other grounds cited were that the AP High Court grossly exceeded the judicially settled parameters of its jurisdiction while granting the bail; the court "erred by grossly contravening the apex court’s judgment in Sangitaben Shaileshbhai Datanta Vs State of Gujarat (2019) case; the court’s perverse approach and findings in the subject matter vitiated the order under appeal on the touchstone of foundational parameters of adjudication of bail adjudication; the findings of the HC that they were only for the purpose of the bail and not reflecting on the merits of the case, did not detract from the overreach of the findings of the HC on each one of the important aspects of the investigation while providing a clean chit to Accused 37 on the merits of the allegations; the court grossly erred in making various specific findings on the merits of the case at hand, which were either inaccurate or prejudicial to the prosecution’s case against the respondent.”

It also said the HC grossly erred in making the finding that there was no material to definitively conclude that the misappropriated amounts were diverted to the Telugu Desam party and this finding was in defiance of established parameters of tentative adjudication at bail.”

“The said finding was oblivious to the fact that the TD functionaries were stonewalling the investigation by not responding to the summons and notices issued by the inquiry officer, taking advantage of the pendency of the bail hearing in the HC,” the SLP mentioned.

“The money laundering aspect of the crime was also being investigated by the enforcement directorate and the cash trail was clearly available, which was also placed before the HC, and all further aspects were a matter of ongoing investigation by the APCID and the ED,” according to SLP.

The government in its petition maintained that the court erred in not appreciating the fact that the internal investigation of Siemens was specific to the present scam and the finding of the court that there was nothing in the report to connect the same to the present scam was therefore clearly unsustainable.

“The court erred in its finding that the entire project was successful since more than 2.13 lakh students were trained. This finding, on the face of it, was incorrect since in terms of the Connor Report dated 06-04-2023, the total worth of the project was only about Rs 36 crore, but a sum of Rs 370 crore was disbursed by the AP government and at least Rs 280 crore had clearly been siphoned off. The court erred in rendering a finding that the forensic audit report could not be looked at in view of the disclaimer thereon. The said finding was ex-facie incorrect, especially in view of the conclusions arrived at in the report that the Designtech diverted at least Rs 241 crore of funds,” the petition said.

“The court erred in not appreciating the objection of the then finance secretary, who stated that the contribution of 90 per cent was not forthcoming from Siemens/Designtech as per the GO-Ms4, and therefore the share of the APSSDC ought not to be released. This was completely overruled by the respondent.”

The government, in its petition, said that the court’s finding in para 41 of the impugned judgment was clearly a negation of the issues of law arising from section 13(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, which rendered punishable any abuse of office and power by the public servant in securing a pecuniary favour to a person or to himself.

“The court misdirected itself in not considering the circumstantial evidence of the respondent’s involvement in the sudden disappearance of the potential accused and their defiance to appear before the IO in spite of repeated notices,” the petition added.