The CID on Wednesday named IFS officer and vice-chairman and managing director of the scam-hit AP State Minority Finance Corporation Mohammed Ilyas Rizvi and accounts officer Shaik Ahmed Ali as witnesses.
The CID also raided the premises of Vasavi Print Links (Pvt.) Ltd at Lakshminarayananagar in IDA Uppal owned by one of the accused -N. Venkataramana -where the fake Fixed Deposit Receipts were printed and the letters that were used for the scam had been forged. In the CID's remand report on the Rs 55-crore scam that hit AP State Minority Finance Corporation, the corporation's vice-chairman and MD Mohammed Ilyas Rizvi and accounts officer Shaik Ahmed Ali have been mentioned as LW (listed witness)-2 and LW-3.
While there is no clarity on the role played by them in the scam, the duo was at the helm of the corporation when the `55-crore scam took place. The scam came to light when the new manager of Vijaya Bank found that money from the minority corporation's account had been transferred to accounts with majority community names.
Following this, the manager wrote to APSMFC officials and Mr Rizvi, who claimed that he had not been aware of this till that point, had informed secretary of minorities welfare M. Dana Kishore that Rs 55.47 crore had been withdrawn fraudulently .
The scam begun on January 27, 2012 when Rizvi issued cheques for Rs 10 crore in the name of Vijaya Bank's branch manager for starting FDs. The same was handed over to middleman Keshava Rao by accounts officer Shaik Ali. Keshava Rao handed them over to the main accused V .K. Sai Kumar who deposited it in the bank.
But, instead of making the FDs on the corporation's behalf, Sai Kumar created a current account and transferred the money into it and then to the 16 companies he and other accused floated. The corporation was given fake FDRs.
An accused in the case, Naveen Sagar had demanded Rs 10 lakh to open current accounts with fake stamps and seals, said officials. On Wednesday, the Sixth Additional CMM's court granted police custody of the four prime accused including Sai Kumar for seven days. The CID will also be working on the scam's Karnataka links.
“Two more people including the Vijaya Bank manager who worked in Hyderabad during the scam and another person who participated in the forging of the letters are on our radar. We will soon arrest them,“ an official said.