Coal scam: ED attaches Rs 186-cr assets of Nava Bharat Power

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached properties worth Rs 186 crore in the matter relating to “illegal allocation of coal blocks” to Nava Bharat Power Projects Private Limited (NBPPPL).

The Hyderabad-based company and its directors, P Trivikrama Prasad and Y Harish Chandra Prasad, had earlier been chargesheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly entering into “a criminal conspiracy with unknown government officials and got coal blocks allocated to it”.

This is the second attachment order by the ED in the coal blocks allocation scam. Earlier, it had reportedly attached shares of two Nagpur-based firms, Asera Banka Power and JAS Infrastructure and Power, valued at Rs 24.5 crore.

According to the CBI chargesheet, consequent to allocation of coal blocks, the promoters and share holders of NBPPPL have sold their entire shareholdings in July 2010 to Essar Power Limited for Rs 231 crore, while the net worth/book value, according to audited balance sheets for 2009-10, stood at Rs 22 crore.

“The allocation of coal block had exponentially enhanced the share value of NBPPPL. Hence, it is evident that by selling the shares of NBPPPL, the promoters of the company has a windfall gain of more than Rs 200 crore,” the chargesheet stated.

“The proceeds of the crime, totalling Rs 186.11 crore, were found to be re-invested by the directors of NBPPPL, namely P Trivikrama Prasad in the form 73,99,99,994 shares of Nava Bharat Energy India Ltd valued at Rs 148 crore (attached to the tune of Rs 138.59 crore) and by Y Harish Chandra Prasad in the form of 8.4 Mw wind turbine generators at Rajasthan in the name of Malaxmi Windpower, valued at Rs 45.19 crore (attachment to the extent of Rs 36.32 crore)”, the ED stated in a press release on Wednesday. About 28 acres of land near Hyderabad worth Rs 11.2 crore belonging to  Adobe Realtors Pvt Ltd, 100 per cent owned subsidiary of PVP Global Ventures, has been attached.

“It was found that the same was purchased out of the proceeds of the crime (and) transferred by Malaxmi Group to PVP Global Ventures", ED said.

Harish Chandra Prasad is currently in the US and could not be contacted.