Hyderabad: Nama Nageswara Rao refutes allegations in money laundering case

Hyderabad: Refuting the allegations against Madhucon, Telangana Rashtra Samithi floor leader in Lok Sabha Nama Nageswara Rao on Saturday said that it was National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) which had assured to compensate for delay in the Ranchi Expressway project and later terminated the contract.

Addressing a press conference here at his residence, Nama said that after his entry into public life, he had stayed away from the company and gave it to his brothers. He said that the Ranchi Expressway was a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). The 160-km project was taken on the Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) model in 2011. As per the contract, 80 per cent of the site should be handed over to the agency at the commencement of work and 100 per cent within three months. The NHAI did not hand over the entire site even after seven years, he said.

Nama said that the company completed 60.24 per cent of the work and at this stage, NHAI terminated the contract. The cost of the project is Rs 1,655 crore of which Rs 463 crore should be given by the company and Rs 1,190 crore by the bank. The banks gave Rs 652 crore and because of the delay, they collected Rs 378 crore as interest, said Rao. He said that the NHAI assured to give 50 per cent funds because delay was on their part but later withdrawn.

Nama said that there was no scope for withdrawal of money by the company from an 'escrow account' because the money was released after verification of works by the three consultants. He claimed that there was no complaint or petition against the company and it was only because of involvement in a PIL (in a case related to cutting of trees in Bihar). He refused to talk further on this stating that the case was in Arbitration Tribunal.