BSY’s grandson’s firms got ₹5 crore from 7 Kolkata shell companies: News report

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s grandson Shashidhar Mardi received Rs 5 crore from seven Kolkata shell companies between March and July 2020 through two companies where he became the director after the BJP came to power in Karnataka in July 2019, reported the Indian Express. (https://indianexpress.com/article/india/b-s-yediyurappa-karnataka-bjp-shashidhar-mardi-kolkata-shell-companies-6720203/)

The Indian Expressscrunitised documents and found 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. The Kolkata companies share common addresses as per filings with the RoC but none of them seem to exist on the ground.

The bank statements of Belgravia’s Axis Bank account show that the firm received Rs 5.35 crore between March 2020 and June 2020 from the seven Kolkata companies. This money, records show, was subsequently transferred to the Axis Bank account of VSS Estates.

Sakambari Merchants Pvt Ltd , Strategic Vincom Private and Remac Distributors Pvt Ltd transferred Rs 1.95 crore online. Later, Rs 1.5 crore was transferred from Belgravia to VSS Estates’ Axis Bank account. Then, Rs 3.40 crore was transferred from Sakambari Merchants and four other companies, Jagdamba Commosales Pvt Ltd, Gannayak Commodities, Navtech Creation Pvt Ltd and Ragharana Sales Pvt Ltd, to Belgravia’s Axis Bank account. Then Rs 3.41 crore was transferred from Belgravia to VSS Estates.

VSS Estates Pvt Ltd was started in November 2019 with Mardi and a UK-based partner Sanjay Sree as its directors. It is yet to file details of its 2019-20 revenue with the RoC, revealed The Indian Expressinvestigation.

The details of these were telecast byPower TV, a private news channel, which was taken off air by the state government for eight days, but is now on air again. Last month, Power TV had alleged in a series of reports that the money was part of a quid pro quo for the promise of obtaining government clearance for RCCL, a private firm, to construct a Rs 660-crore government housing project in Bengaluru.

The project was awarded to RCCL in April 2019 when the Congress-JD(S) coalition was in power in Karnataka. As per the agreement, work was to start from June 24, 2019 and conclude by December 23, 2022. Soon after the agreement was signed, the government fell. The company is still awaiting the final work order.

RCCL director Chandrakant Ramalingam did not respond to The Indian Expressfor comment. However, he filed a police complaint against Power TV for airing conversations suggesting corruption in the clearances for the housing project by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). The channel had also alleged that Yediyurappa’s son BY Vijayendra, 45, and a government official had demanded Rs 17 crore from RCCL.

These allegations were echoed by the Congress in Karnataka. Opposition leader Siddaramaiah said that the transaction was aimed at converting black money into white and that the entire transaction amounted to hawala and money laundering. The Congress has sought a judicial inquiry into the transaction to bring out the truth. The Congress party in Karnataka has alleged that a work order to start the project was delayed by the BJP as favours were sought by those linked to the government.

This is not the first time that Yeddyurappa’s name has been linked tocorruption scandals. In 2011, he was remanded to judicial custody for 25 days for denotifying land in and around Bangalore for pecuniary benefits to his family and former cabinet colleague Es En Krissnaiah Setty. Yeddyurappa's two sons - BY Raghavendra and BY Vijendra - and his son-in-law RN Sohan Kumar were then granted conditional bail after each furnished a surety bond of Rs five lakh.

Then he faced probe in the mining scandal that cost the exchequer more than $3bn in 2012. Yeddyurappa was accused of showing "undue favours" to some companies involved in illegal mining and other alleged financial irregularities, according to reports. He had to quit as the Chief Minister after the Karnataka anti-corruption ombudsman accused him of serious wrongdoings between 2006 and 2010.