Hyderabad, October 28: Akula Suri Babu may not be as notorious a scamster as B Ramalinga Raju, the disgraced chairman of the erstwhile Satyam Computers. But both seemed to have subscribed to the same modus operandi — using auditors for money laundering.
Sleuths of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) who registered a disproportionate assets case against Suri Babu, DEE of Srisailam Special Designs Circle, are now after A Ganga Rao, Suri Babu’s auditor who, ACB officials alleged, was managing the ill-gotten wealth. Sources disclosed to Express that over the years Suri Babu had been keeping his documents with Ganga Rao who is based in Tadepalligudem in West Godavari district. The latter is said to have been assigned the task of parking the money at various places and in the form of various assets, including benami property.
Just today, sleuths found documents (some in the names of Babu’s immediate family and other relatives) worth over Rs 40 lakh, besides some agreements on stamp papers.
“As per the norms, auditors are supposed to report any violation of Indian Auditing Standards to the Government under the Companies Act. But it appears that Ganga Rao was laundering Babu’s ill-gotten money. If we get evidence that he was knowingly helping the corrupt government servant, he will be made an accused in the case,” sources associated with the investigation said.
While Suri Babu already finds himself in a deep mess and Ganga Rao is likely to face action, sources said that the ACB sleuths would be further tightening the noose around Suri Babu by informing Income Tax officials about the case. “We will do this shortly. All relevant records from IT will be obtained to check whether IT returns were filed or not,” they said.
Another aspect that came to light during the preliminary investigations was that Suri Babu had allegedly taken into confidence some contractors while working as Assistant Engineer in the Dowleshwaram project and later in the Srisailam project.
“He would give false reports to his higher-ups on works pertaining to the canal, height of the dam and other such matters. If there was a minor damage anywhere in the design, he would cite it as major damage only to make money,” sources said.
Suri Babu, was “calm and composed” all through the ACB raid, though his wife was in a state of panic. The couple have three daughters who have completed their engineering studies. Two are married to software engineers.
—Agencies