SKILL SCAM: Charge Sheet Filed in ACB Court with Naidu as Main Accused

Vijayawada: The chargesheet has been filed by the AP CID in the ACB special court in the state Skill Development Corporation-Siemens Project scam here on Thursday. The main accused are Telugu Desam chief Chandrababu Naidu, former minister K. Atchannaidu, former MD and CEO of APSSDC Ghanta Subba Rao, former director of APSSDC Dr K. Lakshminarayana and officials of Siemens, Designtech, PVSP Skillar etc.

The chargesheet mentioned that Naidu orchestrated the conspiracy to misappropriate funds allotted for the skill development programmes. Accordingly, he along with former minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao, ordered the floating of a corporation named AP state skill development corporation, “bypassing the Cabinet and deviating from the existing rules.” “Naidu maintained complete control over APSSDC by appointing Ganta Subba Rao as its MD and CEO and also as secretary to AP government for the department controlling APSSDC.”

“Naidu, with



the assistance of then minister Atchannaidu, issued orders approving the establishment of Siemens Skill Development Centres. The estimation of the project was accepted at a hyper-inflated rate of `3,300 crore. Both Naidu and Atchannaidu created a facade of government order as if the Siemens and Designtech would contribute 90 per cent of the 3,300 crore project as grant-in-aid and the AP government would contribute only 10 per cent of the cost.”

Contrary to such an order, Naidu and Atchannaidu gave approval to an MoU, stating that it was the government of AP that was giving a grant of `371 crore to Siemens and Designtech to set up skill development centres, and that there was no obligation on the technology partners to contribute anything towards the project.” “The officials related to Siemens and Designtech siphoned off a large portion of the ‘371 crore in conspiracy with Naidu and Atchannaidu.”