The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) claimed in the Telangana High Court that multiple shell companies controlled by Andhra Pradesh MP Y Sujana Chowdary had duped banks of Rs 5,000 crore and that issuing lookout against him was in the nation's best interests.
Sujana had filed a petition on Friday, 9 July, challenging the lookout circular issued against him. The CBI made the aforementioned statement during the hearing of the petition. The BJP MP also sought interim relief in his petition for permission to visit the United States for business, in order to procure oxygen concentrators.
He received permission for a month's duration and is required to report to the authorities both before and after his visit. In an affidavit, the CBI mentioned that the MP's role was under active consideration by case investigators.
The Times of India quoted CBI officials who said, "Lookout circulars are issued against economic offenders who cause immense loss to the national exchequer, to prevent them from fleeing the country."
The petition was being heard by Justice K Lakshman, who stated that he would examine the MP's contentions against the circular on 17 August. Since Sujana had not yet been made an accused in the case, the judge allowed him to go abroad and return within a month's time.
As per the CBI's counter, a Chennai-based company called Best & Crompton Engineering Projects Ltd's directors and officials availed a letter of credit facility from banks under the pretext of undertaking government projects. They received loans that were then directed to various shell companies without business and the amount was never spent for the specified purpose, claimed the CBI.
Most of the shell companies were traced to the Sujana group's Hyderabad head office, from where the authorities seized 278 rubber seals of these shell companies. The agency added that they seized several incriminating documents from the MP Jubilee Hills residence. Some of the companies where Sujana is the director face allegations of raising false invoices.
CBI officials have said that companies have been using the coronavirus lockdown periods as an opportunity to evade authorities and investigators. The probe agency stated that they plan on confronting Sujana soon with the material they gathered as evidence of defrauding banks.
(With inputs from The Times of India)
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