Fibernet scam: ACB Court permits attachment of Rs 114-Cr worth of assets of Tera Software, associates of Chandrababu Naidu

VIJAYAWADA: The ACB Special Court in Vijayawada on Tuesday ordered the attachment of seven fixed assets related to the Tera Software company and close associates of former Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu in the Rs 114 crore fiber net scam. The Andhra Pradesh CID has already filed a case in this connection accusing Vemuri Harikrishna (A1), Tera Software managing director Tummala Gopichand(A11), and Chandrababu Naidu (A25) of their involvement in the case among others.

The directors of Tera Software were also directors in the firms linked to Naidu’s family-owned Heritage Group. According to the FIR, The AP Fibernet project taken up by the previous Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Government headed by N Chandrababu Naidu was in gross violation of the rules and had caused a loss of Rs 114 crore to the state exchequer.

The CID said that the then Chandrababu Naidu government had manipulated the tender process to award phase-I of the Fibernet project worth Rs 330 crore to Tera Software Limited, which was a blacklisted company.

The project was aimed at providing high-speed internet, television, and telephonic service from a single broadband connection at a nominal cost and was awarded to Tera Software Limited, a company blacklisted by the Infrastructure Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Limited [INCAP] for non-compliance with electronic point of sale [EPOS] and was barred from participating in any APTS tenders.

The investigation agency said that Naidu had got the blacklisting against the firm revoked for reasons known to him.