DELHI AIRPORT SCAM (Or DIAL Scam)

What is this about?
Delhi Airport Scam also called DIAL Scam or IGI Scam is one of the biggest scam that rocked India.

Who is responsible?
The Congress Government has produced some of the greatest scams of India. The CAG audit Report on Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi exposes the Politician [INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS] and Developer [GMR Infrastructure] nexus causing a huge loss to the National Exchequer to the tune of Rs 1,63,557 crore over 58 years.

Know more:

In the “Implementation of public-private partnership Indira Gandhi International Airport Delhi” report, an estimate scandal of 1.63 lakh crores was asserted by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
The total value of the land allotted to Dial is said to be around Rs. 24 thousand crores. DIAL is said to possess 4799.09 thousand acres of land.

With an equity contribution of Rs 2,450 crore of which the private GMR-led consortium's share was Rs 1,813 crore, the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) got a brownfield airport for 60 years.

The projected earning capacity of this land (239.95 acres) in terms of license fee over the concession period of 58 years was indicated by Dial itself as Rs. 681.63 crores per acre in a letter to the joint secretary, aviation ministry.

The CAG also charged the Civil Aviation Ministry with violating the bid conditions for the benefit of DIAL to the tune of over Rs 3,415 crore and pressed for fixing of responsibility.

The current status shows that the development fee is continuously being charged by the passengers which ranges from Rs. 220 to Rs. 520 for domestic passengers and Rs. 490 to 1200 for international passengers.

What is DIAL?
           DIAL is a joint venture consortium led by the GMR Group which was mandated by the Government to modernise Delhi airport. The other members of the consortium include Frankfurt Airport, Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Malaysian Airports.
           The report said the OMDA allowed DIAL to use five per cent of the demised land for commercial exploitation. The current value of 9.50 acres as per AERA amounted to Rs 950 crore. The earning potential for 58 years from 9.50 acres based on DIAL's own projections was Rs 6,457 crore, it said.

RESULT:

This scandal has resulted in a loss on the part of both the farmers and the passengers. The farmers have lost their lands at cheap rates and the passengers have to pay the development fees. One thing that is true to this scandal is that it has resulted in loss of both the rich and the poor, flight passengers being the rich targets and farmers being the poor targets. In most of the cases it is the poor which are mostly affected. It is the duty of the Indian citizens to join hands against such scandals for the proper development of the Indian economy.


A SCAM OF WORTH 

RS 1,63,557 Crores....

by CONGRESS.

Satyendra Dubey (IES Officer) - Exposing corruption - Murdered

Satyendra Dubey

Satyendra Dubey (1973–2003) was an Indian Engineering Service (IES) officer. He was the Project Director in the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) at Koderma. He was murdered in Gaya, Bihar after fighting corruption in the Golden Quadrilateral highway construction project.

Satyendra was the topper of the state in 10th and 12th board exams. He got admission to the Civil Engineering Department of IIT Kanpur in 1990 and graduated in 1994. Subsequently, he did his M. Tech (Civil Engg.) from IIT Varanasi  in 1996.

Professional life

After his masters, Satyendra joined the Indian Engineering Service (IES) and in July 2002, went on deputation to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). Dubey became the Project Director at Koderma, Jharkhand, responsible for managing a part of the Aurangabad-Barachatti section of National Highway 2 (The Grand Trunk Road). This highway was part of the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) Corridor Project, the Prime Minister's initiative, which aimed to connect many of the country major cities by four-lane limited-access highways totalling 14,000 km, at an overall cost more than USD 10 billion. During this period, Dubey got the contractor of the project to suspend three of his engineers after exposing serious financial irregularities. At one point, he had the contractor rebuild six kilometres of under-quality road, a huge loss for the road contract mafia.

Exposing Corruption

The GQ project had strict controls to ensure that the construction work would be carried on by experienced firms with proper systems. A second independent contract was given for supervision of the project. However, Dubey discovered that the contracted firm, Larsen and Toubro, had been subcontracting the actual work to smaller low-technology groups, controlled by the local mafia. When he wrote to his boss, NHAI Project Director SK Soni, and to Brij Satish Kapoor, engineer overlooking the supervision, there was no action. 

According to the police's First Information Report (FIR) after his murder, Dubey had been facing several threats following his action against corruption at Koderma. A subsequent FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) named both Soni and Kapoor. In August 2003 when he was transferred to Gaya, a transfer which he opposed since he felt that it did not serve the interests of NHAI. At Gaya, he exposed large-scale flouting of NHAI rules regarding sub-contracting and quality control. At this time he took a departmental test and was promoted as deputy general manager, which made him eligible to take charge as project director. Since there was no project director's post in Gaya, he was likely to be posted to Koderma soon. There was widespread sentiment (based on their pattern of operation), that the criminal nexus, opposed to having him as director, may have been behind his murder.

Letter to the Prime Minister

Meanwhile, faced with the possibility of high-level corruption within the NHAI, Dubey wrote directly to the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, detailing the financial and contractual irregularities in the project. While the letter was not signed, he attached a separate bio-data so that the matter would be taken more seriously. Despite a direct request that his identity be kept secret and despite the letter's sensitive content, accusing some of Dubey's superiors, the letter along with bio-data was forwarded immediately to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. 

Dubey also sent the same letter to the Chairman of the NHAI. Soon Dubey received a reprimand: the vigilance office of NHAI officially cautioned Dubey for the impropriety of writing a letter directly to the Prime minister. In the process, through connections in the NHAI and the Ministry.

Sub: My representation about certain lapses in the implementation of National Highways Development Project. 

Hon'ble Sir,

I would like to draw your kind attention towards a representation on the above subject sent you by the undersigned. (The same representation was also sent to the Hon'ble PM).

The representaion sent to you was unsigned. Howver, the same was confirmed vide my letter dated 15.2.2003 after a letter to this effect was received from Vigilance Division of National Highways Authority of India.

The sole intention behind my representation was to extend posiitive contribution to the NHAI, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the Nation as well, by highlighting grey areas purely with the purpose to institute remedial measures and thereby achieve optimum and desired output. I had no intentions whatsoever to malign any individual or for that matter any organization. In doing so I have made a sincere endeavour to carry out my duties as expected of every upright government officer.

I had enclosed my identity on a separate sheet so as to ensure secrecy and at the same time make any further contribution if asked upon to do so. It is however regretted to inform you that, due care has not been taken to maintain the secrecy of my identity and even the separate sheet containing my identity has been forwarded to the concerned authorities. As a result, my identity has been leaked.

Sir, you would appreciate that this disclosure has exposed me to undesirable pressures and threats. As a result, the undersigned, who took all this pain in order to make some positive contribution to the organization and the concerned project, has to adopt a defensive posture. I hereby express my serious concern over this. This is submitted for your kind information please.

Thanking you,

Yours Sincerely,
S K Dubey
Manager (Technical) NHAI
Koderma

The entire mobilisation advance of 10 per cent of contract value, which goes up to Rs 400 million (USD 10 million) in certain cases, are paid to contractors within a few weeks of award of work but there is little follow up to ensure that they are actually mobilised at the site with the same pace, and the result is that the advance remains lying with contractors or gets diverted to their other activities.

He was murdered.

Who ordered the murder?

It is possible that Dubey may have been the victim of a simple robbery during which Mantu Kumar shot him, as alleged in the case filed by CBI. 

However, given the death and disappearance of several witnesses and the startling escape of the prime accused, there is widespread speculation that vested interests may have engaged the criminals who actually pulled the trigger. 

As for the GQ project, the Supreme Court is currently overlooking investigations into the corruption charges initially raised by the Dubey letter. Several official have been indicted and a technical team is overseeing the actual construction. 

Also, as of September 2005, news reports indicated that the law ministry was about to introduce legislation to protect whistleblowers. 

Meanwhile, on 10 February 2006, a 600 meter stretch of the GQ highway connecting Kolkata to Chennai subsided into the ground, opening up ten meter gorges near Bally, West Bengal. This stretch had been executed as a joint venture between two Malaysian firms RBM and Pati, selected after global tendering.

PMO office during Atal Bihari Vajpayi was responsible for leaking Mr. Dubey’s identity hence Atal Bihari Vajpayi should have been held for the murder of Mr Dubey.

Conviction

More than six years after the murder, on March 22, 2010 Patna Court convicted three accused Mantu Kumar, Udai Kumar and Pinku Ravidas for murdering Dubey. 

The court convicted accused Mantu Kumar under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 302 (Murder), 394 (Voluntary causing hurt in committing robbery) and 27 (A) Arms Act for possessing unlicensed weapon.

The other two accused were convicted under Section 302/34 (Murder committed in furtherance of common intention) and 394 IPC.

Awards and Fellowships dedicated to Satyendra Dubey

• Dubey's murder drew several protests in India and abroad, especially by the media. Student and Alumni bodies of IITs took the lead in raising this issue. 
• S. K. Dubey Foundation for Fight Against Corruption was founded in the US by Ashutosh Aman (IIT Kanpur, Satyendra's batchmate) and Atal Bansal (IIT Kanpur) to systematically fight against corruption.
• IIT Kanpur instituted an annual award in his name, Satyendra K Dubey Memorial Award, to be given to an IIT alumnus for displaying highest professional integrity in upholding human values.
• The Indian Express also announced a fellowship in the name of Dubey.

Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences (IRDS), a Non-governmental organisation from Lucknow has been awarding the Satyendra Dubey award for civil services in reverence to his contributions to the cause of fighting corruption.

Awards given to Satyendra Dubey

• Whistleblower of the year award from the London-based Index on Censorship
• The Transparency International's Annual integrity award.

• The Service Excellence award from the All India Management Association.

• He was nominated for the Padma awards in 2011.

In Popular Media

• On 26 November 2007 NDTV aired a documentary by Mini Vaid on Satyendra Dubey, produced by Ashutosh Aman on behalf of the S K Dubey Foundation.

• Famous Indian musician Rabbi Shergill has dedicated one stanza in his song titled 'Bilqis (Jinhe Naaz Hai)' from album Avengi Ja Nahin to Satyendra Dubey. This song is a dedication to all those who died in vain or while supporting some cause (anti-corruption).

• Indian crime television series, Crime Patrol, dedicated their hundredth episode to Satyendra Dubey on 7 April 2012.

• His story was highlighted in the final episode of Satyamev Jayate.

• His story was shown in Savdhaan India of Life OK channel.

What happened recently?

The main suspect in the murder of Paulose Thomas, a Malayali engineer who was consultant for a project of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), has been absconding for over two months.

K. Elangovan was an accountant with Intercontinental Consultants and Technocrats Pvt. Ltd. (ICT), of which Mr. Thomas was an employee. Police have no leads as to the whereabouts of Mr. Elangovan, who disappeared on January 20, a couple of days after he was interrogated in connection with the murder. 

Mr. Thomas, a retired PWD engineer who hailed from Muvattupuzha, was team leader with ICT. The firm had been hired by the NHAI as consultants on the four and six-laning of the Salem-Ernakulam highway from Chengapalli near Tirupur to Walayar. ICT is monitoring the quality and progress of the nearly 1,000 crore BOT project of IVRCL Chengapalli Tollways Ltd. 

Mr. Thomas was found dead in his apartment in December 2012. Cardiac arrest was first thought to be the cause of death. However, suspicion arose after the deceased’s son Suraj Thomas, a surgeon in London, found ligature marks on the neck suggesting that he was murdered.

The police had also considered the possibility that Elangovan may have been killed.

Biggest scam in indian industry - Reliance Gas Price Issue

Reliance Gas Price issue and it's complete story:

         After the Government of India opened up hydrocarbon exploration and production to private and foreign players in 1991, Reliance Industries got the rights to explore the D6 block as per NELP (New Exploration and Licensing policy). Here, Reliance Industries discovered India’s biggest gas reserves in the Krishna Godavari basin near the Andhra coast and the site is called Dhirubhai 6 (which is where the “KG D6 basin” come from, in news related with this subject). The size of the block is 7,645 square kilometers and is officially recorded as KG-DWN-98/1.

          The D6 was to produce 40 million MMSCD (Million Cubic meters per day), which was revised to 80 MMSCD. Initial development cost at $2.4 billion was revised through an “addendum” in 2006 to $5.2 billion in the first phase and $3.3 billion in the second phase.

           When Reliance Industries split between Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani, a secret pact between the Ambani brothers became public. Anil Ambani owned RNRL (Reliance Natural Resources Ltd) claimed it had rights to gas from Reliance KG basin for 17 years at $2.34 per mmBtu (million British thermal unit). The Supreme Court finally settled the matter by asserting that ‘the government owns the gas till it reaches its ultimate consumer and parties must restrict their negotiation within the conditions of the government policy’.

            The CAG Draft Report on the audit of the Production Sharing Contracts for the onshore and offshore oil and gas blocks showed that the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) allowed Reliance Industries and other private operators to “gold-plate” the capital costs and make huge profits using an “Investment Multiplier”, which meant that higher the capital cost, the larger the share of the profits of the private parties.

Till the the capital costs are recovered, 90% of the petroleum/gas sold would be “cost” petroleum (covering Government royalty of 5%, operating costs, the costs of exploration, and the development cost of producing gas) and only 10% would be “profit” petroleum and Reliance gets the major share of the “profit” petroleum. The “Investment Multiplier” begins to increase (and thus the Government’s share) only after Reliance Industries has recovered most of its investment.

So increasing the profit share for private parties and decreasing government share was as simple as pouring in funds well beyond those stated in initial bid. Increasing capital costs helps Reliance retain a much larger share of the profits in the initial years, while the Government gets its share only in the last phase, when the production declines.

The capital costs in KG Basin D-6 Block went up from $2.4 billion in the initial contract to $8.5 billion. This is not possible without the government cronyism allowing it and there lies the  KG basin gas scam. In the case of KG D9 basin, the Management Committee in which the Government had 2 nominees allowed the inflation of contracts.

Actual amount of gas available was obfuscated by digging inadequate wells, and moving directly to commercial production without intermediate appraisal.

Add to this the high price of Reliance gas — $4.2 per Million BTU (MBTU), fixed by the Empowered Group of Ministers headed by Pranab Mukherjee even when Reliance had admitted in Court that its production cost was $1.43 per MBTU and agreed to to supply gas at $2.34 to both NTPC and Anil Ambani Group, still making a profit of 50% (at this point, ONGC was supplying gas for half the price and gas production had not started in KG basin). Pranabda’s Empowered Group of Ministers let him renege on this and demand $4.2 per MBTU, because he could not now supply gas for less than the “mandated price” set by the government” (No gas was coming out of the KG Basin still). Ministers may be “Empowered”, but on behalf of whom were they acting?

So Reliance profits from every side

• By over invoicing the capital costs paid to own affiliates without oversight, it makes substantial profits directly
• By inflating project cost, it continues to get a larger share of profits for an additional time till the “investments” from are recovered.
• Selling gas at multiple times the real cost (of which it retains a major chunk as “recovering investment”

Who were involved?

     Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) filed an FIR against Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, former minister Murli Deora and ex director-general hydrocarbons VK Sibal under the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly hatching a conspiracy to manipulate gas prices.

         However, CPI Leader Mr. Gurudas Dasgupta warns that “If this proposal is accepted, then the country will have to bear an additional subsidy burden of `76,000 crore. This is a huge scam that is in the process of being enacted in assistance with the petroleum ministry.

         In the present scenario of high inflation and slowdown in economy, an increase in gas prices will result in huge increases in the prices of fertilizer and power tariff which, in turn, would derail the economy and hit the common man severely.

         Natural gas prices are falling all over the world but are being hiked in our country to benefit an industrial house. I wrote two letters to prime minister Manmohan Singh in this regard but he has not responded. Of late, the prime minister has been maintaining silence on all issues of national interest, specially when it comes to involvement of corporate bodies in  scams.

Besides, Singapore High Commission had dispatched to the UPA government accusing Reliance group of companies of money-laundering  to the tune of Rs 6,530 crores.

          Exposing the cobweb of suspicious companies, the Singapore High Commission had stated that Rs 6,530 crores have come into India from Biometric Marketing Ltd, a one-room company in Singapore that does not do any business. It was pointed out that this is a company with no assets, no equity and does not file an income tax returns in Singapore claiming to be a small company. Yet, the company contributed Rs 6,530 crores which is the single biggest FDI into the country from Singapore.

The High Commission had stated that all this money has gone to Reliance group of companies in India with the major chunk ( Rs 3,128 crore) going to Reliance Gas Transportation Infrastructure Ltd which is a company 100 per cent  owned by Mukesh. Other three Reliance companies which received investments were  Reliance Infrastructures, Reliance Ports and Reliance Utilities.

The investments were done over a period of one year starting from 2007. The High Commission also found in its investigation that major share holder of the BiometriX even did not exist on the address it had given.

Reliance Power scam:

          The Comptroller and Auditor General has alleged that the union power ministry gave “undue benefit” of Rs 1.20 lakh crore — calculated over the next 25 years — to Reliance Power Ltd (RPL) in the ultra mega power projects (UMPPs) at Sasan in Madhya Pradesh and Tilaiya in Jharkhand. The undue benefit was extended by the UPA government by changing coal licence norms to allow RPL to divert this surplus coal to its other power projects.

          The scam resulted in a benefit over 25 years to RPL of Rs 42,009 crore from the Sasan project and Rs 78,078 crore from the Tilaiya project. The CAG says that the allocation of the captive coalmine was one of the key features of UMPPs (plant capacity above 4000 MW) and initial bid documents did not contain the provision of diverting excess coal to other projects. Records show that this condition was reflected in the contract which RPL signed in September 2007 for the Sasan project.

           The matter was examined and discussed in detail by EGoM and it was agreed that for expeditious implementation of coal-based thermal power projects, which would also increase the generation capacity of the country, and for optimal utilization of coal reserves in the blocks allotted to UMPPs, incremental coal may be permitted to be used by other projects of the same developer of the UMPP subject to necessary safeguards

People involved

• Sushil Kumar Shinde, Minister of Power
• Reliance ADAG

Sources from : vidyut from aam janta, zeenews, and new indian express

RAHUL GANDHI - PART I - No.1 Fraud in Indian National Congress

Congress ruled the State for the Majority of the duration Pre Independence to Post Independence.. from 1939 to 1989 

I think your party had more than half a century and half a Dozen PM's to build a State...

YOU REALLY WANT TO FEEL ASHAMED

But don't be disappointed, I would give you ample reasons to feel ashamed... 

You really want to feel Ashamed..?

• First Ask Pranav Mukherjee, Why isn't he giving the details of the account holders in the Swiss Banks.
• Ask your Mother, Who is impeding the Investigation against Hasan Ali?
• Ask her, Who got 60% Kickbacks in the 2G Scam ?
• Kalamdi is accused of a Few hundred Crores, Who Pocketed the Rest in the Common Wealth Games? 
• Ask Praful Patel what he did to the Indian Airlines? Why did Air India let go of the Profitable Routes ? 
• Why should the Tax Payer pay for the Air India losses, when you intend to eventually DIVEST IT ANYWAY!!!
• Also, You People can't run an Airline Properly. How can we expect you to run the Nation?
• Ask Manmohan Singh. Why/What kept him quiet for so long?
• Are Kalmadi and A Raja are Scapegoats to save Big Names like Harshad Mehta was in the 1992 Stock Market Scandal ?
• Who let the BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY Accused go Scot Free? ( 20,000 People died in that Tragedy)
• Who ordered the State Sponsored Massacre of SIKHS in 84?

 Please read more about

•  How Indira Gandhi pushed the Nation Under Emergency in 76-77, after the HC declared her election to Lok Sabha Void!
• Why the Double Standards in Judging Mayawati and members of your Family and Party?
• I condemn Mayawati. But Is She the only one you feel Ashamed for?
• What about the ones close to you? For their contribution to the Nation's Misery is beyond comparison.
• You talk about the Land being taken away from the Farmers. How many Suicides have happened under your Parties Rule in Vidarbha ? Does that Not Ashame You ?

FBI arrested Rahul

• Rahul was arrested/detained by the FBI the BOSTON Airport in September 2001.
• You were carrying with you $ 1,60,000 in Cash. You couldn't explain why you were carrying so much Cash.
• Incidentally He was with his Columbian girlfriend Veronique Cartelli, ALLEGEDLY, the Daughter of Drug Mafia.
• 9 HOURS he was kept at the Airport. Later then freed on the intervention of the then Prime Minister Mr.Vajpayee..
• FBI filed an equivalent of an FIR in US and released him. 
• When FBI was asked to divulge the information, by Right/Freedom to Information Activists about the reasons Rahul was arrested ... FBI asked for a NO OBJECTION CERTIFICATE from Rahul Gandhi. 
• So Subramaniyam Swami wrote a Letter to Rahul Gandhi, " If you have NOTHING to HIDE, Give us the Permission" 

HE NEVER REPLIED! 

1. Why did that arrest not make Headlines Rahul? You could have gone to the Media and told, "I am ashamed to call myself an INDIAN?".
2. Or is it that, you only do like to highlight Symbolic Arrests (like in UP) and not Actual Arrests ( In BOSTON)

Rahul's qualifications:

• He went to Harvard on Donation Quota. ( Hindujas Gave HARVARD 11 million dollars the same year, when Rajiv Gandhi was in Power)
• Then he is expelled in 3 Months/ He Dropped out in 3 Months.... ( Sadly Manmohan Singh wasn't the Dean of Harvard that time, else you might have had a chance... Too Bad, there is only one Manmohan Singh!
• Some Accounts say, You had to Drop out because of Rajiv Gandhi's Assassination. 
• May be, But Then Why did you go about lying about being Masters in Economics from Harvard .. before finally taking it off your Resume upon questioning by Dr. SUBRAMANIYAM SWAMI (The Gentlemen who exposed the 2G Scam)
• At St. Stephens.. You Fail the Hindi Exam.

 Hindi Exam!!!

And he is representing the Biggest Hindi Speaking State of the Country?

WHY LIE ABOUT EDUCATIONAL CREDENTIALS?

Not that Education is a Prerequisite for being a great Leader, but then he lied about his qualifications!

You could feel a little ashamed about Lying about your Educational Qualifications. You had your reasons I know, Because in India, WE RESPECT EDUCATION!

But who cares about Education, When he is a Youth Icon!! 

Do YOU REALLY RESPECT GANDHI, OR IS IT JUST TO CASH IN ON THE GOODWILL OF MAHATMA? 

Because the Name on your Passport is RAUL VINCI.

Not RAHUL GANDHI..

May be if you wrote your Surname as Gandhi, he would have experienced, what Gandhi feels like, LITERALLY ( Pun Intended) 

You People don't seem to use Gandhi much, except when you are fighting Elections. ( There it makes complete sense).

Imagine fighting elections by the Name Raul Vinci...

           It feels sadly Ironic, Gandhi Ji, who inspired Icons like Nelson Mandela ,Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lennon, across the world, Couldn't inspire members of his party/ Nehru's Family, who only seem to use his Surname for the purposes of FIGHTING ELECTIONS and conveniently use a different name on their PASSPORT.

So, is he a politician.....Wake up India.

Details from Mr.NITIN GUPTA Sir, 

B. Tech, IIT Bombay

lagadapati rajagopal -

Lagadapati Rajgopal alias Lanco Rajgopal is a 45 year old industrialist turned politician known for his rabid hatred towards Telangana statehood movement. There is some background behind his hatred towards Telangana. The following expose proves the dark side of this self-appointed champion of anti-Telangana movement.

• His 7200 Crore illegal Lanco Hills Real Estate Project on the brink of collapse
• Cheated AP Public to the tune of 1000 Crores through Lanco Kondapalli Power
• Involved in illegal Hawala transfers. Lanco MD arrested recently with Hawala money
• His company in a mega insurance scam running into several Crores
• Siphoned 1.53 Crores fraudulently from Basara IIT project and also from TTD Vedic University project.

The Lanco Scandal

Lagadapati bought 108 acres of land at Manikonda in Hyderabad from government of AP to develop an IT SEZ. Once the government allotted him the land, he has limited the IT SEZ, to less than 1/4th of the total land and converted this land into a real-estate venture named Lanco Hills. Estimated at Rs. 7,200 Crores, Lanco Hills is touted as the one of the largest real estate ventures in India. He is duping the state and central governments by conducting his business under the “LANCO Hills Technology Park Pvt. Ltd” name. The state and central governments have already lost crores of rupees by waiving stamp duty and other taxes for this real-estate venture.

Lanco also kept changing its company names to perpetuate this real-estate fraud. When it began, the company was called Lanco Technologies Private Limited”, it was subsequently changed to “Lanco Technology Park Private Limited” on June 7, 2005, to “Lanco Mantri Technology Park Private Limited” on November 24,2005 and further to “Lanco Hills Technology Park Private Limited” on July 6, 2006. 

Wakf Board is equivalent to the Endowments department which takes care of Hindu Temple lands. This Muslim minority institution has thousands of acres of lands around Hyderabad. The Joint Parliamentary Committee appointed on Wakf land had last year found that of 1,600 acre prime Wakf land in Manikonda, 829.35 acres were encroached by the government, which sold the same to several companies including Lanco Hills. As Rajgopal is an MP and had several connections in the right places, he managed to get the stay evicted. He also managed to stop the Wakf Board from approaching the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the real-estate bubble in Hyderabad burst and buyers started dropping off Lanco Hills apartments like hot potatoes. When Lanco went for public issue, it promised to build 18.5 million sq ft in Lanco Hills. As soon as booking began, Lanco Hills had reported bookings of 4 million sq ft. In December 2008, it admitted that bookings were down to 2 million sq ft. Industry insiders say that the current bookings are much less than even that.

Richest Politician in Andhra Pradesh

Lagadapati is the richest politician in Andhra Pradesh. He declared assets worth Rs. 299 Crores in the 2009 election leaving behind Ex chief ministers Chandra Babu Naidu and Late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy. This perhaps explains why he could engineer such mass resignations in Andhra region.

Hawala King

In March 2007, the then Managing Director of Lanco Infratech, G Venkatesh Babu was caught at the Hyderabad Airport with unaccounted money of about Rs. 34 Lakhs. During interrogation, Babu confessed that the money belonged to Lanco. And immediately Lagadapati Rajgopal swung into action and pulled all the ‘right’ strings to get his man and his company out of this tangle. So powerful were Rajgopal’s contacts that the income tax department, while reporting this cash seizure, did not even release the name of the company to which Venkatesh Babu belonged to. The IT department’s official statement read “managing director of a power development and infrastructure company” was caught.

Insurance Fraud

Rajgopal’s Lanco Infratech is under probe for reworking insurance deals to claim crores of  rupees as reimbursement from state government corporations. The company, which handles mega construction projects for the state government, including the AP Health and Medical Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation (APHMHIDC), renegotiated premium amounts with insurance companies and pocketed huge refunds. Even Lord Balaji was not spared as one of the Lanco projects now under the scanner relates to the construction of the Vedic University of the Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanam, sources said.

The government companies have suffered huge losses by paying up higher premiums and this has been going on at least from 2007. The construction of an integrated educational complex for the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Basar in Adilabad district is a classic case. Lanco had bought insurance cover with the New India Assurance, Basheerbagh, for payment of Rs 1,89,60,000 as premium. After getting it refunded by the principal, APHMHIDC, Lanco Infratech went back to the insurer to renegotiate a steep drop in the premium. That deal through policy no: 610200/44/08/03/600 00027 yielded Lanco Infratech a refund of Rs 1.53 crore and the government corporation was in the dark.

The projects for medical colleges in Ongole and Srikakulam had yielded premium refunds of Rs 17 lakh and Rs 11 lakh respectively. “Our vigilance officials are probing irregularities,” said the chairman and managing director G. Srinivasan of the United India Insurance Co. Ltd, acknowledging the Lanco scam. UIIC investigators are now busy checking whether some of their own executives had colluded with Lanco Infratech. A few other insurance majors figure in the list of insurers that Lanco had used in its fruitful project deals.

Lanco Sasan Controversy

In July 2007, the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) cancelled the bid of Lanco consortium for the 4,000 MW ultra mega power project in Sasan, Madhya Pradesh. The Lanco Group is alleged to have violated norms by quoting the financial and technical strength of its foreign partner’s parent company at the time of bidding.

Vizhinjam International Transhipment Terminal Port Controversy

Lagadapati Rajgopal’s Lanco was awarded the Rs.5,300-crore project on build-operate-transfer basis in May 2008 through global tender. Zoom Developers, the only other bidder other than Lanco was disqualified on technical grounds. Zoom went to court challenging its disqualification during the appraisal of its technical bid. The case moved from the Kerala High Court to the Supreme Court. After much litigation, Lanco decided to pull out from this project.

Power Politics

Lanco is perhaps the number one company when it comes to litigations and controversies. Almost all its power projects are mired in controversies. Let us examine some of these cases state-by-state

Andhra Pradesh:

The then Chandra Babu Naidu government entered into faulty Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with Lanco Kondapalli Power, owned by Rajgopal, which resulted in excessive payments to the tune of 586 Crores between 2001 and 2006. Andhra Pradesh Transmission Corporation has levied liquidated damages of Rs 95.16 Crores for delay in achieving commercial production. According to conservative estimates, Lanco Kondaplli Power Project benefitted to the tune of Rs. 1000 Crores from the faulty Power Purchase Agreements of AP state government.

Punjab:

Lanco bidded for 1320 MW Rajpura thermal plant in Punjab, but the PSEB Engineers Association had said that the bid is very high and should be re-invited. The PSEB Engineers Association in its letter to Punjab Chief Minister had pointed out the poor track record of Lanco in executing projects. Lanco had quoted Rs.1.829 per unit as fixed charges where as Sterlite had quoted Rs.1.20 per unit for Talwandi Sabo project in Punjab.

Haryana:

The former Finance Minister of Haryana, Sampat Sing said in 2008 February that the Lanco Amarkantak Thermal Project project was full of loopholes and allegedly smacked of corruption and favouritism. He said the state government would purchase electricity at the landed cost of Rs 2.75 per unit under this deal, whereas from the Sasan project of MP, it would get electricity at the rate of Rs 1.19 per unit. This big difference showed that there was corruption in the deal, he alleged.