In a case involving multi-million dollar bank fraud, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) filed a Prosecution Complaint with the Hon’ble Special Court in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh against M/s Venus Aqua Foods Limited, its Managing Director Nimmagadda Ramakrishna, Sri S. Ramchander Rao (the then Chief Manager of Andhra Bank), and others. On May 9, 2022, the Special PMLA Court in Visakhapatnam took cognizance of the prosecution complaint.
The FIR filed by CBI BS&FC, Bangalore under different provisions of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and Section 13(2) r/w 13(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, served as the foundation for the money-laundering inquiry launched by ED.
The ED investigation, among other things, revealed that M/s Venus Aqua Foods Limited, its directors, and their family members and relatives had obtained loans from Andhra Bank in cooperation with the chief manager of Andhra Bank for the purpose of cultivating pisciculture activities and Agriculture Cash credit loans (AGLCC), but had not used the loan proceeds as intended. Investigations indicated that loans were taken out in cash and used to pay off previous debt and buy real estate in the names of M/s Venus Aqua Foods Limited directors and their relatives. The money was also misused to finance the making of the Tollywood film “AakashameHaddu,” resulting in a loss to the Public Sector Bank of Rs. 54.64 Crore (with interest).
The properties of Nimmagadda Ramakrishna and others had already been attached by the ED to the tune of Rs. 13.75 crores via a provisional attachment order, which was upheld by the prestigious adjudicating authority at PMLA, New Delhi, in the original complaint of 2020 dated April 16, 2020. Further research is now being conducted.
