Visakhapatnam: The police here on Friday registered cases against nine persons for allegedly siphoning off Rs 569 crore through fraudulent foreign remittances by forming fake companies.
Vaddi Mahesh, a resident of Kolkata and native of Srikakulam, his father Vaddi Srinivasa Rao of Srikakulam, Achanta Harish, Chanta Rajesh, Prasanta Kumar Roy Barman, Praveen Kumar Jha, Ayush Goel, Vineet Goenka and Visas Guptha were booked under IPC Sections 420 (cheating), 120 b (criminal conspiracy), 465 (punishment for forgery), 468 (forgery) and 471 (using a forged document as genuine).
Income-tax officer with the joint director of income-tax (investigations), M.V.N. Seshsu Bhavannarayana, reported to the MVP Colony police station that the group had formed fake companies and, in a massive fraud, siphoned off Rs 569 crore.
The accused allegedly hatched a conspiracy, created false and forged documents, and established about 12 bogus companies in Visakhapatnam and Kolkata.
30 bank accounts were opened
The accused opened 30 bank accounts in the names of these companies at various places, Mr Bhavannarayana’s report to the police said.
Inquiries by the Income-Tax department and a preliminary investigation by the police revealed that Vaddi Mahesh opened many proprietary concerns/partnership firms in the names of his employees for transfer of funds, and claimed huge turnovers.
An analysis of the bank accounts of the accused indicated a total inward domestic remittance of Rs 680.94 crore, out of which an amount of Rs 569.93 crore had been remitted fraudulently to five companies in China, Singapore and Hong Kong towards purchase of customised software.
“This was done by using forged documents. No software was ever imported from these companies,” the police said.
Mr Bhavannarayana stated in his complaint that the accused had cheated the government by fraudulently transferring an amount of Rs 569.93 crore in foreign exchange to accounts outside India on the basis of bogus documents.
“The accused also violated various laws and an investigation must be done not only in India but abroad as well,” Mr Bhavannarayana said in his report.
