CBI files charges in Rs11.67 crore Volkswagen scam
25 Sep 2010
After a five-year long investigation, the CBI filed a charge sheet in the Rs11.67 crore Volkswagen scam, in Andhra Pradesh. However, the investigating agency has almost cleared Botsa Satyanarayan, the state industry minister at the time and later at the centre of any wrongdoing.
Satyanarayan is currently panchayat raj minister.
The 150-page charges, filed in the XIV additional chief metropolitan managistrate (ACMM) court in Hyderabad, names six main accused including Helmuth Schuster, a former official of the German car maker. The investigating agency has framed charges against them under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of IPC.
The scandal erupted in 2005 drawing the then Congress government of chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy in trouble as the state government paid Rs11.67 crore to Vashishta Vahan Pvt Ltd, a special purpose vehicle of the German company, floated for putting up a manufacturing unit in Andhra Pradesh.
Satyanarayan, who was at the time major industries minister, came under the scanner as the payment was transacted to Vashistha Vahan, through "dubious" means.
Though opposition parties had alleged that Satyanarayana and his brother Murali Krishna were directly involved in the scam, no action was initiated against the two.