October 11, 2020 4:35:32 am
The companies share common addresses: 301E, BB Ganguly Street and 277, BB Ganguly Street in Kolkata. (Express photo: Partha Paul)
TWO COMPANIES in which Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s grandson Shashidhar Mardi became director after the BJP came to power in Karnataka in July 2019, received 5 million rupees from seven Kolkata shell companies between March and July 2020.
The chain of transactions is contained in documents filed with the Registry of Companies (RoC) that were analyzed by The Sunday Express, and the details of the bank accounts of the two firms were broadcast by a private television channel that was taken off the air by the state government for eight days, but now it’s on the air again.
Last month, Power TV had alleged in a series of reports that the money was part of a quid pro quo for promising to obtain government authorization for RCCL, a private company, to build a $ 660 million government housing project. rupees in Bangalore.
The project, which was awarded to RCCL in April 2019 when the Congress-JD (S) coalition was in power in Karnataka, is awaiting the final work order.
Speaking to The Sunday Express, Mardi called the money “working loans for a project” for which “all documentation” has been provided. He denied the allegations made by the television channel, saying they were made with “malicious intent” and an attempt to “tarnish the family.” Mardi, 30, is the son of Yediyurappa’s daughter, Padmavathi V Y.
RCCL director Chandrakant Ramalingam did not respond to requests for comment. However, he filed a police complaint last month against Power TV for broadcasting alleged covert recordings of conversations suggesting corruption in the housing project authorizations by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). The channel had also alleged that Yediyurappa’s son BY Vijayendra, 45, and a state government official had demanded 17 million rupees from RCCL.
Following the complaint, the police raided the Power TV facilities in the city on September 28 and the channel was off the air until October 7.
RoC documents examined by The Sunday Express show that Rs 5 crore was transferred through seven Kolkata companies to Belgravia Enterprises Pvt Ltd and VSS Estates Pvt Ltd, where Mardi is a director. Kolkata businesses share common addresses based on filings with the RoC, but The Sunday Express visited the locations and found that none of them operated from there. Leases submitted by VSS Estates and Belgravia have the same Bengaluru address as on June 15, 2020.
According to the bank statements of the Axis Bank Belgravia account, the company received Rs 5.35 crore between March 2020 and June 2020 from the seven Kolkata companies. This money, records show, was subsequently transferred to VSS Estates’ Axis Bank account. A part of these transfers are evident in the RoC presentations:
# First, Rs 1.95 crore was transferred from Remac Distributors Pvt Ltd, Sakambari Merchants Pvt Ltd and Strategic Vincom Private Ltd via NEFT and RTGS between March 13, 2020 and March 20, 2020 to Belgravia. Subsequently, Rs 1.5 million was transferred from Belgravia to the Axis Bank account of VSS Estates.
# Then, Rs 3.40 crore from Sakambari Merchants and four other companies, Jagdamba Commosales Pvt Ltd, Gannayak Commodities, Navtech Creation Pvt Ltd and Ragharana Sales Pvt Ltd, was transferred to Axis Bank Belgravia account between May 14, 2020 and on June 26, 2020 Subsequently, a second tranche of Rs 3.41 crore was transferred from Belgravia to VSS Estates on July 6, 2020.
Three of the Kolkata companies (Remac Distributors, Gannayak Commodities and Rajgharana Sales) are located at 301E, BB Ganguly Street, Room No 4, Kolkata, WB 700012, according to RoC records. The other four (Strategic Vincom, Navtech Creation, Sakambari Merchants, and Jagadamba Commosales) are located at 277, BB Ganguly Street, Kolkata, WB 700012.
The first address is inside a congested market in the center of Kolkata. “There were some companies that operated out of one of the stores a few years ago. But those stores have been closed for a long time, ”said Rajeev Shaw, an optician worker.
In the other direction, about 100 meters, there were no signs of the four companies. “I’ve been here for a long time and I’ve never heard the names of these companies,” said Devender Jain, who runs a plywood shop there.
According to the account statement from VSS Estates, the 5 million rupees deposited between March 13 and July 6 by Belgravia was transferred on July 27, 2020 to another account, of a partner company VSS Works LLP where the partner of Mardi, Sanjay Sree, is a director along with a representative of a real estate firm PR Ramakrishnan.
VSS Estates Pvt Ltd was started in November 2019 with Mardi and a UK based partner Sanjay Sree as directors. You still need to file your 2019-20 income details with the RoC. A RoC submission from VSS Estates Pvt Ltd includes a copy of your bank statement for the period May 25-27, 2020, which reflects a balance of Rs 1.59 million in the account.
RoC’s submission of the bank account details for May 2020 for VSS Estates when viewed alongside the bank statements published by Power TV for the seven Kolkata companies, Belgravia Enterprises, VSS Estates and VSS Works, shows the movement of Rs 5 crore from March to July 2020 through the firms linked to Shashidhar Mardi.
Along with Mardi, Sree is also a director at Belgravia, which is a general business firm. Mardi was appointed director on August 29, 2019, shortly after Yediyurappa became Chief Minister. In RoC filings through March 2019, the company reported zero revenue and losses of Rs 38,458.
When asked about the money, Mardi said: “They are working loans for a project. We have provided all the documentation for it. With some bad intentions, accusations are being made. It eventually went to fixed deposits because all the funds cannot be used immediately for a project. We would access it when necessary. It was to be used in a joint venture project. “
On Kolkata companies with common addresses, he said: “These are related to each other. Also, I don’t know much about it. “
When asked about the corruption allegations, Mardi said: “First of all, my partner owns the majority stake in the companies. I only have 12 percent. In Belgravia I have no involvement. My partner is the owner. There is no link between me and a government project. I am a private individual. They have a loan to work on a project. By claiming to conduct investigative journalism, the television channel has linked unrelated things to defame us. “
He further said: “Belgravia is not related to the family. I was hired as a director about six months ago, but I have no shares. It is a 12-13 year old company. They were active until 2013. They didn’t want to start a new company, so they revived Belgravia. It is true that it was inactive for almost five years ”.
Responding to a specific question about the money, he said: “They are all genuine loans with TDS paid off and paperwork done. All companies have these types of transactions. They are linking the transactions to unrelated things just with the intention of tarnishing our family. Am I prohibited, as an individual, from doing business? “
Officials said the tender for the housing project, to build one- and three-bedroom apartments, was submitted in October 2017 under the then-congressional government. RCCL’s offer was approved at a BDA board meeting on December 21, 2017. The project remained in limbo after the congressional government fell in 2018 and a JD (S) -Congress coalition was formed in June 2018.
Before the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, the coalition issued a letter to RCCL on April 22 of that year, approving the project and requesting a security deposit of Rs 33.31 million. After the polls, on June 24 a formal agreement was signed between the RCCL and the BDA for the construction of the project. Under the agreement, work was to begin on June 24, 2019 and conclude on December 23, 2021.
In July, shortly after the agreement was signed, the coalition government collapsed and the BJP led by Yediyurappa came to power. The Congress party in Karnataka has alleged that the BJP delayed a work order to start the project because those linked to the government were seeking favors.
“The Konadasapura project was featured in a big way in a recent session of the state legislature. Responses suggest that the project is still ongoing, ”said a senior BDA government official. The official declined to comment on the status of the work order to start the project.
(With Santanu Chowdhury in Kolkata)
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