Prudential Chief Raided To Probe Links With Itc

The directorate raided the premises of the Prudential group and interrogated group chairman Vinod Baid here yesterday in connection with the ongoing investigation into the Fera violations by the ITC.

Baid, one of the brokers of ITC Classic, was summoned to the ED at forenoon and was interrogated for five hours.

Baid said: "They came to my office and residence, but there were no seizures. No money transfer documents were found. I told them that I never had any dealings on behalf of Sapru. No Fera violations have been established."

It has been alleged that Baid was responsible for money transfers abroad on behalf of former ITC chairman K L Chugh, now in judicial custody, ITC deputy chairman F R Vevaina and director Asutosh Garg.

 

A Prudential spokesperson said the questioning and the raids were conducted to ascertain the kind of relationship Vinod Baid has with ITC.

Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate has decided to question BAT nominees on Friday. It still has not decided when, if at all, to question institutional nominees.

However, according to information available with Business Standard, the searches were primarily aimed at recovering money transfer documents, but none have been recovered so far. No violation of the Foreign Exchange Regulations Act has been detected. The ED will scan records of the Calcutta Stock Exchange for possible clues at a later date for cross-verification.

It is also learnt that ITC chairman Y C Deveshwar told ED officials that he was responsible for putting a stop to the financial irregularities in overseas transactions which was detected by ITC's internal audit committee in April 1996. Deveshwar took over as ITC chairman in January 1996.

Deveshwar has further sought to clear his name, saying that prior to taking over as chairman, he was chairman of Air-India for three years and was in no way connected with any underhand dealings.

Meanwhile the ED officials questioned ITC's former director (finance) D P Barua, who told reporters: "No charges or allegations of Fera violations have been leveled against me. I have received most courteous treatment from ED officials and since the matter is sub judice, I have no further comments."

ITC's international business division vice-president Shivku-mar was also interrogated on Wednesday. According to ED deputy director K K Kabirpanthi, Garg has been questioned by the department in Delhi yesterday. Another director R P Agrawal who has been summoned by the department has not been traced as yet.

Jain grilled

Nemichand Jain, the Guwahati-based stock broker through whom the Shaw Wallace management is alleged to have siphoned out substantial sums out of the country, was interrogated yesterday by officials of the Enforcement Directorate.