HYDERABAD: The Enforcement Directorate filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against former minister and BRS working president KT Rama Rao, senior IAS officer Arvind Kumar, and former HMDA chief engineer BLN Reddy on Friday.
The ED case is filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
This comes just 24 hours after the Anti-Corruption Bureau registered a case against the trio.
Sources in the ED confirmed the registration of the case and revealed that Rama Rao has been named Accused No. 1 (A-1), Arvind Kumar A-2, and BLN Reddy A-3.
The agency will focus on the transfer of funds to the foreign company (Formula-E Operations Limited, a UK-based company) for organising the race, the sources said.
They added that the focus will be on identifying the ultimate beneficiary and determining whether there were any transactions from the beneficiary accounts to unknown persons.
It is understood that the ED investigation will run in parallel with the ACB inquiry.
The sources also indicated that the ED may conduct searches or raids on the residences of Rama Rao and the two other accused if and when needed.
The agency is expected to issue notices to the three accused to appear before it in the coming days. The possibility of this has raised concerns among Rama Rao and his supporters.
Earlier on Friday, the ED had written to the ACB director general requesting a copy of the FIR registered against Rama Rao, Arvind Kumar, and BLN Reddy. The ED letter requested copies of the FIR, the complaint, details of funds transferred by the HMDA to foreign companies, and copies of agreements.
Sources said that the ED received the copies later in the evening from the ACB head office and then proceeded to register the case against Rama Rao and the two other accused.
Rama Rao, also known as KTR, had denied wrongdoing, saying "Where is corruption in this? We have paid Rs 55 crore. They (Formula-E) acknowledged the payment."
He added that this was a "straightforward" account.
"The HMDA (Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority) has an account in the Indian Overseas Bank and money has been transferred from that account," KTR had said reacting to the ACB case.
(With inputs from PTI)