VIJAYAWADA: Nara Chandrababu Naidu, the Telugu Desam chief, has been named the main accused in the skill development scam and he was arrested and brought to Vijayawada from Nandyal in a car after he refused to board a helicopter, said AP CID’s additional DG N. Sanjay.
“The CID is investigating into whose accounts the government money was diverted illegally. CID is also investigating the role of Chandrababu Naidu's son Nara Lokesh. The CID is also investigating the role of Kilaru Rajesh. Apart from these, Lokesh's role in the AP Fiber Net and Inner Ring Road scams will also be investigated in depth,” the additional DG said.
Delving into the skill development scam, Sanjay said that funds were diverted to shell companies using fake invoices, all of which Naidu was allegedly aware of. He said that key documents were destroyed, as ED and GST agencies also investigated the scam.
Sanjay said, “In 2014, an agreement was signed between the AP Higher Education Council and Siemens. After the MoU, Skill Corporation was formed in July of the same year. Ganta Subba Rao acted as CEO and deliberately, Ganta Subba Rao was given the posts of CEO, MD advisor to the higher education council, and advisor to the CM. Even if 90 per cent of funds were not released from Siemens, Rs 371 crores were released by the AP government as its share. The objections of the finance department and CS were also ignored.”
ADG Sanjay said that Design Tech was the mastermind behind the deal, as a Rs58-crore software was shown to cost Rs3,000 crore. “Manoj of Design Tech, a key figure in the scam, fled abroad,” Sanjay said.
He said that Naidu’s personal assistant Pendyala Srinivas also fled to the US. “We will seek the help of Interpol to bring the accused as they are key players in this scam. Naidu is the mastermind in the case of diversion of government funds through several shell companies,” Sanjay said
