The special court for CBI cases on Friday gave permission to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to record the statement of Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, Kadapa MP and former chairman of Jagati Publications, in relation to the sources of investment in his companies.
Principal special judge U Durga Prasad Rao gave permission to a team of five ED officers, led by its deputy director Rajeshwar Singh, to issue summons to Jagan Mohan Reddy in the Chanchalguda prison where he is judicial remand and record his statement from July 7-21 from 10 a.m to 5 p.m in the presence of the MP’s advocate. The court also asked the Chanchalguda prison superintendent to make the necessary arrangements.
The directorate, which has filed an enforcement case information report on Jagan’s illegal assets case, told the court that it wants to record the MP’s statement as a suspect but not as an accused.
The agency told court that it believes that a scheduled offence has been committed, and there was a need to ascertain the facts of the case.
The ED will record Jagan Mohan Reddy’s statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the Foreign Exchange Management Act. The agency suspects that money flowed from foreign countries into Jagathi Publications through hawala transactions. It is investigating the case with the aid of chargesheets filed by the CBI in the disproportionate assets case against Jagan.
The agency has recorded the statements of three other accused in the case: industrialist Nimagadda Prasad, IRAS officer K V Brahmamanda Reddy and IAS officer B P Acharya, who too are in detention at the Chanchalguda prison.
Though Jagan Mohan Reddy sought relief from the court stating that he is no more a director of Jagathi Publications, the court said the ED authorities would furnish the relevant records to him, if needed, in order to refresh his memory.