The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested former MD of Siemens Industry Software India Pvt Ltd Soumyadri Shekhar Bose alias Suman Bose; MD of Designtech Systems Pvt Ltd Vikas Vinayak Khanvelkar; former financial advisor and authorised signatory of Skillar Enterprises India Pvt Ltd Mukul Chandra Agrawal; and chartered accountant Suresh Goyal; in a money-laundering case for diversion and misutilisation of crores of funds of the Andhra Pradesh government disbursed for implementation of the "Siemens Projects" in which the government of Andhra Pradesh had aimed to provide advanced software and technical skills to the youth of the State.
All the four accused were produced before the Special PMLA Court in Visakhapatnam, which granted custody of them for seven days to the ED.
The PMLA investigation was initiated on the basis of an FIR registered by AP CID regarding the swindling of government money to the extent of Rs 241 crore.
The ED investigation reportedly revealed diversion and siphoning of government funds given to Designtech Systems Pvt Ltd through Skillar Enterprises India Pvt Ltd and thereafter through a web of shell companies under the guise of supply of software, hardware materials and services, without any genuine supplies.
The investigation revealed that the purpose for such diversion of funds was to generate cash and thereby siphon off money from the system without utilising the same for the Siemens Projects for which funds were sanctioned by the Government of Andhra Pradesh.
So far, a money trail of diversion of around Rs 70 crore has been established during the ED investigations.