Hyderabad, March 01: On Monday, Leader of the Opposition N. Chandrababu Naidu demanded inquiry by Joint House Committee of the Assembly and the Council and the CBI into “irregular” investments in Jagathi Publications Private Ltd (JPPL) that publishes ‘Sakshi’ and is owned by former MP Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy.
Releasing copies of the Income Tax Department’s assessment of JPPL’s income for 2007-08 and demand notices of Rs. 122 crore served on the firm recently, the TDP leader told mediapersons that the department’s findings had vindicated the party’s stand.
The department had found that former Chief Minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy had entered into quid pro quo unwritten agreement with industries granting them official favours and asking them to invest in JPPL in return, he alleged. These favours ranged from industrial licences to Special Economic Zones.
He said though the party brought these irregularities to the notice of the Centre three years ago through a book “Raja of Corruption”, no action was taken. Now that the IT Department had confirmed these charges, the Prime Minister and the Union Finance Minister owed an explanation to the nation.
He demanded seizure of all records, confiscation of assets and withdrawal of permissions granted to the guilty industries. Quoting from IT documents, he said VANPIC, Matrix, Aurobindo Pharma, PVP Ventures, Hetero Drugs, Pennar Cements received favours from Dr. Reddy’s government. All these companies have invested heavily in JPPL, buying shares at a premium.
Each share of Rs. 10 was bought at a premium price ranging from Rs. 375 to Rs. 390, he said.The IT Department notice did not recognise these premium shares as investment but as income and asked the JPPL to pay a tax of Rs. 122 crore. Responding to IT notice some of these companies have confirmed that they indeed got SEZs.
The department found that of Rs. 394 crore capital of JPPL, promoters who made 20 percent investment held 90 percent shares, while those making 80 of the investments had just remaining ten percent share, “indicating a major fraud”, he said. Earlier TDP legislators’ delegation met the Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and submitted a memorandum highlighting these demands.
–Source: Flashnewstoday