Did Raju use hawala to fund land deals?

Enforcement Directorate sleuths are now scanning through title deeds and sale transactions involving more than 17,000 acres of land, suspecting possible illegal diversion of foreign exchange by Satyam through the hawala route, reports Samiran Saha.

Did deposed Satyam Computer chairman B.Ramalinga Raju and his accomplices forge dollar denominated invoices to buy thousands of acres of land in Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring states?

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Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths are now scanning through title deeds and sale transactions involving more than 17,000 acres of land, suspecting possible illegal diversion of foreign exchange by Satyam through the hawala route.

“We have started looking into their books. We have been mandated to probe into their various deals – land or otherwise,” a senior ED official told Hindustan Times requesting anonymity.

It is suspected that Raju may have brought in foreign exchange as invoiced billings reflected in the company’s books, later transferring that money into fixed deposits which would eventually be siphoned off to fund land deals involving associate companies like Maytas Properties.

“These are early days. We are looking into various aspects of how these land deals were financed,” the official added.

The Hyderabad unit of ED is probing the case under the direct supervision of its headquarters based in Delhi.

Satyam and companies promoted by the Raju family including Maytas Infrastructure and Maytas properties own a total of 17,408.53 acres of land holding in Andhra Pradesh, Nagpur, Chennai and Bangalore.

Maytas Infrastructure holds about 6,800 acres in Andhra Pradesh, of which 300 acres is on the outskirts of Hyderabad.