ED raids firm operating Paliyekkara toll in NHAI fund embezzlement case

Thrissur: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Wednesday raided the office premises of four companies for collecting toll before the completion of work, investing the collected toll amount in mutual funds and not remitting the cost of work not completed to NHAI (National highways Authority of India) thereby cheating the authority of Rs 102.4 crore.

In a statement, the central financial investigation agency said it searched the offices of Bharat Road Network Limited (BRNL) and Guruvayoor Infrastructure Private Limited (GIPL) in Kolkata, KMC Constructions Ltd in Hyderabad, and GIPL’s office in Thrissur.

The Kolkata-registred Guruvayoor Infrastructure is the BOT (build-operate-transfer) company in charge of the Paliyekkara toll plaza in Thrissur.

ED said the raids were based on the FIR (first information report) filed by the CBI regarding the undue gain obtained by these firms in the construction of national highway between Mannuthy and Angamaly.

During searches, the ED found that Guruvayoor Infrastructure invested the illegally collected toll in mutual funds. Toll collected should be deposited with the NHAI, ED Deputy Director Prashant Kumar told Onmanorama.  The company also did not return the money of the work not done to NHAI. “Hence a freezing order was issued for Rs 125.21 crore against the bank balance and fixed deposits of Guruvayoor Infrastructure in Kolkata,” the ED said in the statement.

ED also unearthed incriminating documents from the office of KMC Constructions which revealed that it sold its 51 per cent stake in GIPL to BRNL without any proper valuation and without taking necessary approval from NHAI. “Hence a freezing order was issued against the bank balances of KMC Constructions Limited for a value of Rs 1.37 crore,” the ED said.

It registered a case of money laundering on the basis of FIR registered by CBI against GIPL and others alleging that the company and its then director Vikram Reddy entered into a criminal conspiracy with NHAI officials in Palakkad for the execution of work related to two sections of National Highway 47 ( to widen the NH from Mannuthy in Thrissur to Angamaly and maintain the stretch from Angamay to Edappally in Ernakulam) during 2006 to 2016 and thereby cheated NHAI, to the tune of about Rs 102.44 crore.

“ED probe found that GIPL and sub-contractor KMC Constructions Ltd, with NHAI officials and the project independent engineer fraudulently obtained the completion certificate of the road project and started collecting toll from public,” the ED said.

“Investigation also revealed that without completing the construction of the bus bays, the accused company illegally generated revenue from letting out the advertisement space. Thereby the accused derived undue benefit of Rs 125.21 crore which is the value of the work not executed and proceeds of crime under PMLA, 2002,” it added.