Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu Cleared by ED in Skill Development Scam Case

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has been given a clean chit by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Rs 371-crore skill development corporation scam, which led to his arrest in 2023 following a CID investigation launched by the previous YS Jaganmohan Reddy government. Naidu, who was granted bail on October 31 last year, had spent 53 days in jail.

The ED's Hyderabad unit, which invoked the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), provisionally attached assets worth Rs 23.5 crore belonging to Designtech Systems Private Ltd and other accused parties. However, the ED confirmed that there was no evidence linking Naidu to the alleged misappropriation of funds related to the government's skill and entrepreneurship development project in collaboration with Siemens.

The CID had initially filed a chargesheet against Naidu and others on April 5, just months before the Telugu Desam Party's (TDP) electoral victory facilitated his return as chief minister. The case stemmed from an FIR registered by the CID, which accused Designtech Systems and other firms of defrauding the Andhra Pradesh government by diverting funds meant for the Siemens project.

The ED’s investigation found that Vikas Vinayak Khanvelkar, the MD of Designtech Systems, Suman Bose (former MD of Siemens Industry Software India), and associates Mukul Chandra Agarwal and Suresh Goyal had allegedly diverted government funds through shell companies and defunct entities using bogus invoices for services and materials that were never delivered.

The agency traced the proceeds of the crime, which included movable and immovable properties like bank balances, shares, and residential properties in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, and Pune. These assets were attached as part of the investigation. Earlier, the ED had also attached Rs 31.2 crore worth of fixed deposits belonging to Designtech Systems.

Khanvelkar, Bose, Agarwal, and Goyal have all been arrested, and the ED has filed a prosecution complaint in the Visakhapatnam PMLA court against them.