ED confiscates 500 acres of Raju, kin's land

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), probing the multi-crore accounting fraud in the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services Ltd, today confiscated around 500 acres of land owned by ex-chairman Ramalinga Raju, his family members and relatives at Bandalemuru and Loyapally villages in Rangareddy district adjoining the state capital under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The properties were under the name of 13 registered companies. The ED has so far attached 340 properties that include agricultural plots and flats owned by Raju and 131 others, including his family members, allegedly acquired through the proceeds from the country’s largest corporate fraud. The ED is learnt to have identified 3,000 acres in this regard. This exercise is expected to continue for the next few days.

The ED, part of the multi-disciplinary investigation team probing the Satyam scam, had in April registered a case against Raju and his family under the PMLA, which defines money laundering offences as those with money derived from any activity connected with the proceeds of crime and provides for freezing and seizing the proceeds of such crime.

Meanwhile, a local court trying the Satyam case today posted the hearing on discharge petitions filed by four of the key accused in the scam, including Price Waterhouse’s ex-auditors S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri, to Monday.

B Teja Raju, elder son of Ramalinga Raju, who is on bail, filed a petition to defreeze his three HSBC Bank accounts and release laptops and computers used by him earlier. These were taken into custody by the Cental Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after the scam broke out in January 2009. Teja Raju was heading infrastructure company Maytas Infra.

CBI counsel argued that investigations were not yet over and a probe was on related to diversion of funds. The court, which is hearing arguments prior to framing of charges, posted the matter to September 3.

On the other hand, D Venkatapathi Raju, one of the accused, said all the criminal conspiracy charges levelled against him were incorrect and there was no substantive evidence to prove them. The hearing has been posted to Monday.

Ramalinga Raju, prime accused in the case, would continue his medical treatment for Hepatitis-C and liver disorders at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences here, according to Ajit Kumar, gastroenterology department head.