KT Rama Rao | Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL
The Telangana High Court on Friday extended until Tuesday the order of protection against the arrest of BRS acting president and former Minister KT Rama Rao who is facing a corruption case registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau for alleged financial irregularities related to the Formula-E race it hosted. Hyderabad during BRS rule.
Justice K. Laxman of the HC, before whom the ACB filed a counter affidavit in the criminal petition filed by KTR, posted the matter on Tuesday for further hearing. ACB DSP Majid Ali Khan, who filed a counter affidavit, said that no legal permissions were obtained from the authorities by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority to make foreign currency to M/s FEO of United Kingdom through Indian Overseas Bank regarding the sponsor’s payment.
This resulted in an additional tax burden on HMDA amounting to ₹8.06 crore. An amount of ₹1.10 crore was also paid to the Federation of Motor Sports Club of India towards the FIA international championship calendar fee and concession fee. KTR was the Minister of Municipal Administration and Urban Development at the time. HMDA was part of his portfolio.
A sum of ₹54.88 crore was paid by HMDA to conduct the Formula-E race in Hyderabad. The entire amount was paid out of HMDA general funds. No coercive punishment has been obtained from the government for the release of such large sums of money, said Mr Khan, the coroner, in an affidavit.
“These fees were paid even though there was no obligation under the existing agreement. The new agreement entered into by the then government on October 30, 2023 imposed a financial commitment of nearly Rs 600 crore and additional ongoing expenditure for the next three years,” the IO said. “There was no administrative sanction for this. It was not approved by the Ministry of Finance,” he added.
According to the rules of the Business Secretariat, all matters affecting the State’s finances must be referred to the Ministry of Finance. Cases involving the repeated use of funds of certain limits must be placed before the Council of Ministers. In his reply to the counter affidavit, KTR said that the nature of approval from the regulatory authorities to be obtained for disbursement of funds was not specified by the ACB.
The name of the person from whom the permits will be obtained has also not been mentioned. “The bank is an authorized dealer and if there is any necessary approval, the relevant authorities should look into the same,” KTR said in his reply. “The applicant is not expected to meet the requirements of the process. It is the work of the people involved in the department,” he said.
Talking about not taking prior approvals for disbursement of funds, the former Minister said such allegations are baseless and wrong. “Allegations that huge losses were caused to the State treasury through the release of funds are made to defame and make false accusations,” said the former Minister. “The loss caused to the State treasury was caused by the failure of the next government to honor the commitment to pay the remaining 50% of the agreement to the FEO”, he said.
Published – December 27, 2024 08:19 pm IST