ZCZC
BFF-16
INDIA-LAWMAKER-FRAUD-ALLEGATION
Indian lawmaker found involved in huge bank fraud
NEW DELHI, Nov. 25, 2018 (BSS/XINHUA) – An Indian parliamentarian has been
allegedly found to be involved in a bank fraud to the tune of 5,700 crore
Indian Rupees (around 857 million U.S. dollars), said media reports.
Identified as Y.S. Chowdary, the member of India’s upper house of
parliament Rajya Sabha belongs to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the ruling
party in the country’s southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
According to a report by the English daily the Times of India, officials of
the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized documents revealing the fraud by
companies were floated and controlled by the lawmaker and his associates.
Notably, the TDP, a regional party in India’s political set-up is one of
the key constituent of the alliance in-the-formation against the main ruling
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The report further stated that the member of parliament (MP) has been
summoned by the ED for questioning in relation to the scam on Nov. 27.
The documents seized by the ED revealed that the MP and his associates
operated around 120 shell (dummy) companies allegedly involved in money
laundering activities.
Chowdary, however, refuted the allegations leveled against him, saying that
he was neither the chairman nor in any executive position in any of the
companies as alleged by the ED officials, as he had quit those firms in 2010.
BSS/XINHUA/GMR/1025 hrs