ED detains former Karnataka minister in £9.4 mn scam

Bengaluru: Enforcement Directorate detained former Karnataka minister B Nagendra in a money-laundering case linked to the alleged Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation scam involving £9.4 mn.
The detention followed a two-day ED search at multiple locations linked to Nagendra, corporation chairman Basanagouda Daddal and others. Officials picked up Nagendra from his Bengaluru residence. Nagendra’s houses in Bengaluru and Ballari were searched for two days and they also questioned Nagendra.
 
Nagendra quit as tribal welfare minister early June after one of his aides was linked to the tribal welfare fund scam. About £9.4 mn was allegedly transferred between Feb and May from the corporation’s bank accounts to multiple mule accounts opened using stolen identities.
The scam surfaced after a corporation employee died by suicide in May, leaving behind a note in which he detailed how he was under pressure to divert the corporation’s funds. The note had referred to ‘a minister’.
Under pressure from opposition BJP and JD(S), state govt constituted a SIT of CID to probe the case. Nagendra resigned after probe revealed the role of his aide, Nekkuni Nagaraj, in the scam.