Seven-hour grilling focuses on approvals, fund transfers amid political tensions in Telangana
Hyderabad: Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials on Monday made BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao red-faced by asking difficult questions in connection with the Formula E racing irregularities case. He was questioned by a team of ACB officers led by investigation officer Majid Ali Khan for seven hours at the ACB's headquarters located in Banjara Hills.
The agency officials have reportedly raised questions on transferring funds without the Cabinet's approval. When Rama Rao was laughing at the questions instead of answering them, one of the ACB officers told him to give only straight answers and not lengthy speeches.
When the ACB officers asked him to submit his mobile phone, Rama Rao said he did not bring his phone to the ACB office.
The ACB flagged the five issues — entering into an agreement with Formula E Racing Operation Ltd, the government's approvals for the agreement, the finance department’s consent to release funds from HMDA, RBI permission for transferring huge amounts to the foreign bank account, among others.
Armed with the statements of Formula E Racing Operation Limited management, senior IAS officer Arvind Kumar and HMDA former employee BLN Reddy, the ACB officials shot questions, tightening the noose around Rama Rao's neck to explain the fund transfer with the proper approvals.
As Rama Rao was trying to explain Formula E racing activities in Hyderabad during the BRS government tenure, one of the ACB officers asked him to show any government order for conducting such events in Hyderabad. Rama Rao informed the agency that there was no fund diversion and he had no personal interest in the Formula E racing activities.
Later, the ACB officers asked Rama Rao to be available for the next questioning.
Speaking to party workers later in the evening, Rama Rao defiantly declared that the ACB officials had nothing to ask him, and that as a law-abiding citizen, he presented himself before the investigating authorities.
“For nine hours, they asked the same question in different ways. How did the file move, and where did the money go? I told them clearly that as a government, we took a policy decision that the race should stay here. We paid some money, and every paisa was accounted for; there was no irregularity, and the money is still there. I asked where the corruption was and they had no answer,” he said.
“What is the worst CM Revanth Reddy can do? Take revenge for him being put in prison after he was caught with Rs 50 lakh cash by the ACB? There is no need to worry about these notices or cases. We are not scared of Revanth Reddy. He can put me in prison for a few days, and I told the officials that they can do that if they wish today. This has become like a daily serial. And the officials said, ‘What can we do, we have instructions from the top, ’” Rama Rao said.
The BRS working president wondered how long this “campaign to badnam (besmirch) me go on? I said I am ready for a lie detector test, and Revanth ran away. I did no wrong; what the BRS government did was to get the Formula E race to Telangana and increase the prestige of the state.”
Senior BRS leader T. Harish Rao said the government should watch out before deliberately targeting someone like Rama Rao. “KTR is not just an individual. He is a force to reckon with who has the support of lakhs of BRS workers. The Revanth Reddy government is filing cases on trumped-up charges to cover up its failures and divert public attention,” he said.
