FINAL ORDER

02.04.2025

Present appeals under Section 26 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) are filed by the appellants against the order dated 22.08.2022 passed by the Adjudicating Authority in Original Complaint No. 1607/2022 (OC), whereby it confirmed the attachment of the properties attached by ED in Provisional Attachment Order No. 03/2021 (PAO) dated 23.12.2021, detailed as under:-

i. The list of 180 properties purchased by Shri Rebba Satyanarayana in the names of family members/benami names which are in physical possession of the Banks/NBFCs, which are mentioned in Table I of the impugned order from page No. 134 to 149.

ii. The list of 62 properties which are “Proceeds of Crime”, purchased in the name of family members/benami names, which are in the physical possession of Shri Rebba Satyanarayana as mentioned in table II, at page no. 149 to 156 of the impugned order.

iii. The list of 8 properties which are “Proceeds of Crime”, purchased in the names of family members/benami names and are stated to be donated to others, as gift or transferred by way of GPA or lease, but still under the control of Shri Rebba Satyanarayana as mentioned in table III at page 156 to 157 of the impugned order.

iv. The amount lying in the various Bank accounts of Shri Rebba Satyanarayana and his family members and his own/benami entities as reflected in table IV of the impugned order at page 158 to 159.

2. As per the facts of the case, the General Manager and Senior Regional Head, IDBI Bank, Visakhapatnam lodged the complaint regarding large scale fraud in the Bhimavaram Branch, Rajahmundry, Vishakhapatnam and Hyderabad Branch of IDBI Bank in the matter of processing and sanctioning of loans under Kisan Credit Card (KCC) for construction of ponds/tanks to farmers for fish farming/pisciculture. Accordingly, CBI, Anti-Corruption Branch, Visakhapatnam registered FIR No. RC-04 (A)/2018 dated 27.03.2018 against Shri R. Damodaran (A-1), Retired CGM of IDBI Bank, Shri Battu Rama Rao (A-2), Shri Rebba Satyanarayana (A-3), Shri I.P.R. Mohan Raju (A-4), Shri Mantena Anjaneya Raju (A-5), Shri Katam Lakshmi Narayana (A-6), Shri Rudraraju Srinivasa Raju (A-7), Shri Penmetsa Venkata Rama Raju (A-8), Shri M. Johnson (A-9), Shri Satya Seshagiri Rao Pothuraju (A-10) and others (Valuers, Chartered Accountants/Chartered Accountant firms) for offences under Section 120-B, r.w. 420, 468, 471 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and also r.w. Section 13(2) r.w. 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and substantive offences thereunder. As per FIR, lodged by the Complainant of Bank, fraud to the tune of Rs. 159.24 crores (Rs. 189.95 Crores as on the date of NPA) was committed by the accused persons. The detailed facts as mentioned in the Impugned Order are reproduced as under:

“4.2. Shri R Damodaran, the then CGM and Shri Battu Rama Rao, the then DGM and other unknown bank officials entered into a criminal conspiracy with eight mediators/aggregators namely Shri. Rebba Satyanarayana, Shri. I.P.R. Mohan Raju, Shri. Mantena Anjaneya Raju, Shri. Katam Lakshminarayana, Shri. Srinivasa Raju Rudraraju, Shri. Penmetsa Venkata Rama Raju, Shri. Johnson Medidi and Shri. Satyaseshagiri Rao Pothuraju causing pecuniary loss to the tune of Rs. 159.24 crore (Rs.189.95 Crore as on the date of NPA) to the bank. Shri R.Damodaran and Shri Battu Rama Rao, directed the branch level officers to submit positive reports while processing and recommending KCC loans in respect of 226 borrowers (Total 226 KCC Loans) arranged by the said eight aggregators; that between 2009 to 2012, the Agri Processing Centre of IDBI Bank had sanctioned KCC loans to the tune of Rs 159.24 Crore to the said 226 borrowers in and around Bhimavaram, West Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh, without obtaining proper loan documents, without conducting pre-sanction and post-sanction inspections and without ensuring the end use of the loan; that after the sanction of loans, the loan amounts were disbursed to th