Skill Development Scam Case: Public Funds Looted with Fake Invoices 

Amaravati: The multi-crore Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC) scam which took place during the previous TDP government took an interesting turn recently after the accused number 13 (A13) Shirish Chandrakant Shah has decided to turn approver in the case. He was arrested by the CID officials on December 17 in 2021. 

It’s worth mentioning that the former chief minister and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu and his associates allegedly looted public funds from the state exchequer through the shell companies and by raising fake invoices. 

On Thursday, Shah filed a petition in the Vijayawada ACB court praying the court to allow him to turn approver in the case. Following this, the lower court sent notices to the probe agency APCID and Naidu and others to file their counter plea in the case. The TDP chief is an accused number 37 (A37) in the case who is currently out on temporary bail on medical grounds. On July 23, 2022, under section 164 of CrPC, Shah had told the Guntur court how the public funds were looted by the TDP regime by submitting bogus invoices. 

In his plea, Shah has sought permission from the ACB court to turn approver and coordinate with the investigation agency in the case. According to CID, Shah owns Allied Computers International (ACI), a shell company which is involved in the skill development scam case. 
ACB court has directed Shah’s counsel to produce him before the court on December 5. 

Yogesh Gupta, the other associate of Naidu and prime accused in the case. The Income Tax department has earlier served notices to him. He is an accused number 22 (A22) in the skill development scam case who helped Naidu in diverting a substantial part of the Rs 371 crore rupees in five phases over a period of three months. He is also accused of collecting funds from contractors in TIDCO project and Secretariat building constructions and benefitting Naidu. 

Sawan Kumar Juju, an accused number (A26) in the case contacted Yogesh Gupta and Shirish Chandrakant Shah of ACI. DesignTech Systems Pvt Ltd and Skillar Enterprises Pvt Ltd IT services companies demanded the fake invoices from them. The ACI company raised 18 fake invoices to Skillar Enterprises and two bogus invoices to DesignTech Systems Pvt Ltd companies. 

According to Shirish Chandrakant Shah, the APSSDC entered into an agreement with Siemens-DesignTech companies. He also said that to convince them that the skill development centers were established, they raised bogus invoices. Later, Shah transferred the public funds from the state exchequer to the shell companies identified by Sawan Kumar. 

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