The AP CID police officials produced the accused in the A.P. Skill Development Corporation scam G.V.S. Bhaskar in the CID Court in Vijayawada on Thursday. Mr. Bhaskar was arrested in Noida and shifted to here based on a transit warrant issued by the local court there. The court instructed the CID to call him for inquiry under 41 Cr.P.C. for inquiry.
Mr. Bhaskar is one of the prime accused in the A.P. Skill Development Corporation scam, that allegedly took place during the regime of the then Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Mr. Bhaskar, who was formerly an employee of Siemens Industrial Software Pvt Ltd, was taken into custody by the CID, from his residence in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
According to sources in the State government, “Preparation of a project report along with the other co-accused to artificially inflate the valuation of the Siemens skill development programme to ₹3,300 crore, created an obligation of ₹371 crore on the government as it had to pay 10% of the project cost. Though the cost of the software supplied by Siemens Industrial Software Pvt Ltd was invoiced at just ₹58 crore (without any discount), Mr. Bhaskar manipulated the estimates of the project to reach the figure of ₹3,300 crore.”
The government orders regarding the Siemens Skill development programme envisaged that the technology partners would contribute 90% of the cost of the project. However, Mr. Bhaskar and the other co-accused allegedly conspired with the officials to manipulate the memorandum of understanding in such a manner that the wording in the MoU indicated as if Siemens + Designtech were given a work order worth ₹371 crore. Every mention of the valuation of the project and the obligation of the technology partners to contribute 90% of the cost of the project was left out in a deliberate manner, the sources said.
As a precondition for the release of the funds to the technology partners, when the officials of the APSSDC sought an evaluation of the project by a third party, Mr. Bhaskar reached out to the officials of the Central Institute of tools design (CITD) and managed to manipulate the report given by the organisation in favour of the co-accused and himself.
The investigation agency further identified that, Mr. Bhaskar moved to Aptus Health care from SISW and this company was identified by the Central tax authorities as a shell company formed to syphon off funds in collusion with Designtech, Skillar,etc.
