HYDERABAD: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has told the Telangana High Court that former Andhra Pradesh Industries Secretary Kandula Visweswara Rao took decisions that caused a financial loss to the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) and unlawfully benefitted Emaar Properties.
The submissions were made during the hearing of Visweswara Rao’s petition seeking to quash charges against him in the Emaar case. He is listed as Accused No 12. The matter was heard by Justice Sukant Anil Kumar on Tuesday.
CBI Special Public Prosecutor T Srujan Kumar Reddy said Visweswara Rao served as Industries Secretary from December 2002 to April 2005. In 2004, when the government under then chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy reviewed the Emaar-PJS township and golf course project, APIIC proposed raising the land price from `29 lakh to `40 lakh per acre. The prosecutor said Visweswara Rao rejected the proposal without justification, resulting in a loss to APIIC.
According to the agency, APIIC suffered a total loss of `43.50 crore, while accused officials and private parties gained illegal benefits worth `16,729 crore. The petitioner, it added, also rejected a proposal to revise lease terms for the 235-acre golf course — 2% of annual gross revenue for 33 years and 3% thereafter — without informing the minister concerned.
The CBI said his actions reduced APIIC’s stake in the hotel project from 49% to 28%. Emaar Hills Township plots and villas were sold without mandatory approvals, and Emaar entered into unauthorised agreements with EMGF, allowing both entities to sell plots independently. While official rates were shown as `5,000 per sq yd, `40,000 to `50,000 per sq yd was allegedly collected off record.