Gaddam Vivekanand. | Photo Credit: File Photo
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said that its searches at the residences of Congress leader and contestant from Chennur Assembly constituency Gaddam Vivekanand for alleged Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) discrepancies revealed several violations.
It was found that the bank account of M/s Vigilance Security was reportedly being used by Mr. Vivek, his wife and their company Visaka Industries to circuitously transfer money with no real business rationale. They had transactions of more than ₹100 crore with M/s Vigilance Security, it said.
The ED’s investigation was prompted by the Telangana police’s report over the ₹8 crore transaction in an IDBI bank account at Basheerbagh branch, reportedly from Mr.Vivek to that of M/s Vigilance Security. It conducted searches on November 21 (Tuesday) at his residence in Hyderabad, office premises of Visaka Industries Limited, Vigilance Security Services Private Limited at Ramagundam, and the temporary residence in Mancherial.
As part of the searches, the ED in a disclosure said it recovered and seized digital devices, incriminating documents indicating suspicious and unaccounted for transactions worth several crores, and unaccounted for cash in property deals.
“The entity declared mere ₹20 lakh as ‘revenue from operations’ in its latest balance sheet whereas it reported assets worth ₹64 crore mainly in the nature of long-term loans/advances. Since inception, credit and debit transactions in the company’s impugned bank account were found to be more than ₹200 crore,” it noted.
The investigation revealed that Mr.Vivek has indirect control over M/s Vigilance Security, it said.
Besides the FEMA violations, M/s Vigilance Security Services Private Limited and its parent company Yeshwant Realtors major shares were held by a foreign national. And related FEMA violations were also noticed in the incorporation of an entity by Mr.Vivek in a foreign tax-haven country, the release noted.
The ED said that the seized documents revealed large-scale inter-corporate deposits within group companies having no legitimate business but holding huge land assets.
The searches confirmed the bogus nature of M/s Vigilance Security Services Private Limited which was found non-existent at its declared addresses, it said.
An investigation is under way.
