‘Bail money routed from Singapore’

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Samaj Parivartan Samudaya (SPS) , the NGO which brought illegal mining in the state to the attention of the Supreme Court, now claims that about Rs 20 crore was brought to Mumbai from Singapore through hawala to get former minister, Janardhan Reddy, charged with illegal mining, out on bail.

“From Mumbai, the money was taken to Koppal in Karnataka and Ananthapur in Andhra Pradesh for the cash for bail deal”, SPS convernor, S.R. Hiremath alleged at a press conference here on Wednesday, claiming that he had received the information from a very reliable source. Mr Hiremath alleged that Mr Janardhan Reddy had stacked huge wealth overseas fearing attachment of his properties in the course of inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation and other agencies.

“Very reliable channels of money transfer have been established for the Reddys so they can get their money through hawala ,” he further maintained, also claiming that huge amounts of money had been routed from West Asia to finance the Bellary byelection won by the Reddys' confidante, B Sreeramulu in November last year.

Mr Hiremath demanded a detailed probe into the role of Mr Sreeramulu in the cash for bail scam as his name figured in the confession made by his nephew, Kampli MLA, T H Suresh Babu. The Andhra Pradesh Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) , probing the deal , had said in its remand report to the court that another of the Reddy brothers, Somashekara Reddy , had claimed that of the Rs 9.5 crore paid to the accused CBI judge and other mediators as part of the Rs 20 crore bail deal, Rs 4.5 crore was arranged by Kampli MLA Suresh Babu, and Mr Janardhana Reddy’s personal assistant, Prakash.

Mr Somashekar Reddy's statement, however, contradicts Mr Suresh Babu’s claim that he himself had sold gold ingots in Hyderabad through a gold merchant from Bellary, to raise the Rs 4.5 crore. “Reddy did not reveal where the rest of the money paid to the accused came from,” ACB deputy superintendent of police, T Raghupathi Goud, informed the ACB court in Hyderabad.