ED attaches assets worth Rs 307.61 cr of NRI Academy of Medical Sciences

New Delhi, May 11 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said that it has attached movable and immovable property worth Rs 307.61 crore in a money laundering case against members of the NRI Academy of Medical Sciences (NRIAS) Nimmagadda Upendranath, Mani Akkineni and others.

An official said that the provisionally attached properties include Rs 15.61 crore in bank accounts, land and buildings in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The ED initiated the money laundering investigation on the basis of the FIRs registered by the Mangalagiri PS, Andhra Pradesh Police, under various sections of the IPC against Nimmagadda Upendranath, Mani Akkineni and others for criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery in respect of funds of NRIAS (a society registered under the Andhra Pradesh Societies Registration Act, 2001.

Several other FIRs were also registered at different police stations of Andhra Pradesh against the members of the society.

The ED investigation revealed that members and officials of NRIAS fraudulently siphoned off huge funds of the society and diverted them for their personal gain.

During Covid-19, patients were charged exorbitant rates (much above the rates prescribed by the government) and the charges were collected in cash which was never recorded in the books of accounts and was subsequently diverted by the members and officials of the society.

Similarly, the admission fee from MBBS/PG students under the management quota was collected in cash. They also resorted to collection of fees from students under the management quota in foreign currency in some of their societies formed in the USA instead of receiving the same in the accounts of NRIAS in India.

They also floated a private limited company, NRIAS Pvt. Ltd., which was deliberately chosen to deceive and induce APMSIDC (Andhra Pradesh Medical Services and Infrastructure Development Corporation) and others to deposit the amounts payable to the society for certain projects directly into the accounts of the private limited company instead of the bank accounts of the society. Further, funds of the society were diverted to associated entities and others in the guise of payment of taxes, construction activities etc.

Searches had been conducted earlier by the ED in this case in December 2022 and incriminating material evidencing collection and withdrawal of the unaccounted cash generated from COVID-19 patients/MBBS and PG students, parallel cash books, dummy ledgers were seized.