By IANS,
Bangalore : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Wednesday attached shares and assets valued at Rs.884 crore of the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) of former Karnataka minister and jailed mining baron G. Janardhana Reddy under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
“Our investigations revealed that OMC had illegally mined iron ore valued at Rs.884.13 crore for three years from 2007-10. The amount was seen invested in Brahmani Industries Ltd. by OMC,” the directorate said in a statement here.
Brahmani’s 884 million shares of Rs.10 each, which were held by OMC, were provisionally attached and its directors were instructed not to dispose of them or sell assets, including plant, machinery, land and equipment.
Brahmani was promoted by OMC to build a 1.7 million tonnes per annum steel plant in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh.
The ED investigated violation of the PMLA by OMC on the basis of the first information report (FIR) registered by the anti-corruption branch of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and various other statutory acts in 2011.
The CBI also filed a chargesheet against Reddy and others in December 2011 in its special court under various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
Reddy has been in jail since September 2011 as the main accused in the OMC case for illegally mining in Andhra Pradesh and in Karnataka. His bail applications were rejected by the Andhra Pradesh High Court and the Karnataka High Court.