Directorate of Enforcement (ED) provisionally attached the movable and immovable properties of the NRI Academy of Medical Sciences (a society registered under the Andhra Pradesh Societies Registration Act, 2001) worth Rs. 307.61 crores for illegally transferring huge funds from the society.
The department attached the properties of Nimmagadda Upendranath, Mani Akkineni & others against charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery in respect of funds of NRIAS.
In this case, the search operations were previously initiated by the enforcement department in December 2022, and the incriminating material, including parallel cash books, dummy ledgers, and documents proving the acquisition and withdrawal of the aforementioned unaccounted cash from COVID-19 patients/MBBS and PG students, were confiscated. The investigation is still in progress.
According to the department, during Covid-19, patients were charged exorbitant rates (higher than the rates set by the government) and the charges received in cash, which wasn’t ever documented in the books of accounts and was subsequently transferred by the society’s members and officials.
Parallel to the above, the management quota admission fee for MBBS/PG students was also collected in cash. In several of their societies established in the USA, they also turned to collecting management quota fees from students in foreign currency rather than receiving it in the accounts of NRIAS in India.
ED found that the NRIAS Pvt. Ltd., a private limited company that was purposefully chosen to deceive and persuade APMSIDC (Andhra Pradesh Medical Services and Infrastructure Development Corporation) and others to deposit funds due to the society for a number of projects directly into its accounts as opposed to the society’s bank accounts, was also floated by them. Additionally, money from the society was misappropriated to pay taxes, conduct construction projects, and other things while going to associated businesses and other people.
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