MUMBAI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case of criminal conspiracy and fraud caused to the state exchequer by the GVK group by allegedly siphoning off funds meant for the development of Mumbai airport.
According to the CBI FIR, the GVK group in connivance with unknown officials from Airport Authority of India (AAI) adopted various means to siphon of funds meant for the modernization, up-gradation, operation, and maintenance of Mumbai Airport through their joint venture company (JVC) Mumbai International Airport Limited.
The Mumbai unit of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked a case against the Hyderabad-based GVK group’s chairman G Venkata Krishna Reddy and his son G Venkata Sanjay Reddy and the Mumbai International Airport Ltd for alleged irregularities to the tune of Rs 705 crore. The case, filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, also names officials of the Airport Authority of India and nine other private companies.
All have been accused of “causing wrongful gain of over 705 crores to themselves and causing a loss to the public exchequer between 2012-2018”, the FIR says.
“GVK Airport Holding Ltd, MIAL, GVK Reddy and others have caused wrongful gain of Rs 705 crores to themselves and the corresponding loss of revenue to AAI,” the FIR states.
The agreement signed between AAI and MIAL in 2006 stipulates that MIAL shall run the Mumbai airport and they will have to share 38.7 percent of their revenue with the AAI as annual fees.
The rest will be used for the modernization, operation, and maintenance of the airport.
In its FIR, the CBI said that as per information from sources, around 200 acres of underdeveloped land parcels in Mumbai, located around the airport was given to MIAL by AAI for development and revenue generation. The MIAL entered a bogus work contract during 2017-18 with half a dozen companies.
The agency also alleged that “the promoters of the GVK Group of Companies with criminal intention to cause loss to AAI, used the surplus funds of MIAL to the tune of 395 crore to finance their other group companies between 2012 and 2018”.
“The promoters of the GVK Group of Companies in MIAL have embezzled more than 100 crores of the joint venture company by resorting to inflating the expenditure of MIAL,” the FIR read.
MIAL transferred the funds to them but these contracts have never been executed on the ground. Using this Operandi, Rs 310 crore have been fraudulently siphoned off. The nine companies have availed fake input tax credit (ITC), the CBI said.
The accused have been booked under certain sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including those for cheating, criminal conspiracy, and forgery and those of the Prevention of Corruption Act.