Not Lottapees: ACB Proves KTR’s E Race Quid Pro Quo

Hyderabad: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Tuesday wrote to the state government seeking sanction by an appropriate authority for the prosecution of the accused in the Formula E race scam, including former minister and BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao.

The ACB punctured the assertion of Rama Rao that the case was of no significance (“lottapees case” in his own words) by establishing quid pro quo between him and the private sponsor for the Formula E races. Ever since the case was booked, Rama Rao has been maintaining that there was no swindling of money as the race organisers had received every rupee transferred by the HMDA.

“The case is not about whether or not the organiser received the fund transferred by the HMDA. It is about Rama Rao going out of the way to rescue the Indian sponsor Ace NextGen and relieving it of the burden of spending `500 crore over three years, that too at the cost of the public exchequer. In return, the BRS got electoral bonds worth `45 crore from the Indian sponsor who was spared of the financial burden by Rama Rao,” a top government official told Deccan Chronicle. It is a clear case of quid pro quo, he pointed out.

The ACB which usually routes its report through the vigilance commissioner, submitted an “advance copy” to Chief Secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao. While the Governor will have to sanction permission to prosecute Rama Rao, who was a minister when the offence took place, the Chief Minister will be the sanctioning authority to approve prosecution of then municipal administration special chief secretary Arvind Kumar and former HMDA chief engineer B.L.N. Reddy.

The Governor had earlier sanctioned permission to commencement of investigation by the anti-graft agency. The ACB will file its chargesheet in the case once the Governor accords sanction to prosecute Rama Rao.

The ACB investigation, sources said, focused on two important aspects – procedural lapses and the criminal intent for committing such lapses. While it was beyond doubt that Rama Rao, then municipal minister, violated statutory procedures and rushed the release of funds from the HMDA, the intent or motive behind it was to help the private sponsor relieve itself of the responsibility of organising the race for another three seasons, spending about Rs 500 crore.

The ACB obtained conclusive evidence that the private sponsor had incurred heavy losses during the first season and would have ended up losing more money had it remained as the main sponsor. The former minister helped the private company get out of the tripartite agreement, which eventually became a two-party agreement between the race organiser and the HMDA.