“Why did you pay an amount equivalent to Rs 45.71 crore in foreign currency to a foreign company, Formula-E Operations (FEO)? Did you take permission from the Reserve Bank? Why did you not follow the rules to be followed in the payment of foreign currency funds?” Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials questioned BRS Executive President and former minister KT Rama Rao.
“The officials say that money was released from HAMDA to FEO on your instructions as the Municipal Administration Minister. Why did you give such orders?”, they asked. ED officials questioned KTR for about seven and a half hours from 11 am to 6:30 pm on Thursday in connection with the Formula-E race case. A short break was given in between.
The investigation continued under the supervision of the Joint Director of the ED. It seems that KTR was questioned mostly in Hindi and English, and about 40 questions were asked. “As per the tripartite agreement signed on October 25, 2022, Ace Nextgen, the promoter company, had to pay fees for all seasons, but why did you give new orders in 2023?”, they asked.
Moreover, they also asked that the then Chief Engineer BLN Reddy, who cleared the amount related to two invoices from the HMDA general funds and gave the proceedings, said that he had implemented your orders, didn’t he? When questioned by the ED officials, KTR is reported to have said that the officials took care of all that.
It is learnt that KTR has stated that the money related to the transactions of that day has not gone anywhere and is safe with the FEO. The government has not taken that money and has filed a case only for partisan gain. It is reported that this is a false case, and at one stage, ED officials said that KTR should only answer the question asked when he repeatedly said that there was no corruption in it.
ED officials questioned KTR and recorded his statement based on the statements given by former Municipal Administration Chief Secretary Arvind Kumar and former HANDA Chief Engineer BLN Reddy. It is known that they questioned him too much by showing him the orders given by KTR in his ministerial capacity regarding the transfer of funds.
It is reported that KTR, who appeared for the ED inquiry, gave two documents to the officials there and took a receipt. It is known that KTR handed over the report prepared by Nielsen regarding the Formula-E car race and documents related to the Telangana EV Policy-2020 to the ED officials.
Meanwhile, when the ED officials asked for details of his personal bank account and assets, KTR said that he would give them soon.
