Jagan Reddy laundering case: ED attaches Rs 7.85 crore assets

The ED's latest attachment order has been made against Ms Penna Cement Industries Limited and Ms Pioneer Holiday Resorts Limited

Initiating fresh action, the ED has attached assets worth over Rs 7 crore in connection with its money laundering probe against YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy and others.

The latest attachment order by the agency under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has been made against Ms Penna Cement Industries Limited and Ms Pioneer Holiday Resorts Limited and the estimated value of the assets is about Rs 7.85 crore.

The attached immovable assets include various land pieces in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh and parts of a hotel building in the posh Banjara hills area in Hyderabad.

The ED order, issued late yesterday evening, said its investigations revealed that "Ms Penna Cement and Ms Pioneer Holiday Resorts received undue favours from the government of Andhra Pradesh in the form of alienation of government land, grant of prospecting license for limestone, grant of first renewal of mining lease for limestone, permission for hotel construction and relaxations, among others, as against quid pro quo investments in the group companies of Jagan."

The ED had booked its own case under the anti-money laundering law based on a CBI charge sheet which had alleged that the chairmand and managing director (CMD) of Ms Penna Cement Industries "paid bribes to Reddy in the guise of investments in group companies of Jagan as quid pro quo for the undue favours received by his two companies."

When these contracts were awarded, Jagan's father, the late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was the Chief Minister of the state and both the central probe agencies have said in their respective complaints that there existed an alleged "quid-pro-quo" in all these projects.

The agency had filed a money laundering case in 2010 to probe these charges based on the CBI's FIR.

The ED has already attached assets worth over Rs 1,000 crore in the overall PMLA cases it is probing against Jagan, senior government officials of Andhra Pradesh and businessmen.

The last such order was issued in March this year.

An attachment order under PMLA can be challenged at the Adjudicating Authority of the Act within 180 days and the action is aimed at depriving the accused from deriving gains from his or her illegally acquired wealth.