Jagan’s Pharma Connections : Deadly South!

Jagan’s Pharma Connections : Deadly South!

Aurobindo Pharma, Hetero Drugs, Ramky Pharma , Trident Life Sciences & Matrix Laboratories are under CBI scanner. Healthcare Industry stunned at South volcano.

Satya Brahma

Editor-In-Chief, Pharmaleaders Magazine

Andhra Pradesh is historically known to be a tumultuous state with a notorious past of brinkmanship, nepotism, political back-stabbing, and corruption & high voltage dramatic shameful incidences. Chandrababu Naidu, the Ex CM of AP backstabbed NTR & catapulted to power, Ram lingam Raju, the founder of Satyam hit the headlines for wrong reasons & now Jagan Mohan reddy, the maverick son of Late Dr Y S R Reddy is paying the price of building an empire based on dubious steals & is counting his days in the prison amidst high security, almost like Z Plus. CBI is grilling the media magnet cum politician, the Chief of YSR Congress, Jagan Mohan Reddy & certainly Hyderabad is on fire. With these south connections, now we are seeing many healthcare companies getting directly or indirectly have been indulged in Jagan’s vast empire seeking favours, getting unjustified market values for the land , alleged partnership & many more startling stories that has stunned the country writes Satya Brahma, Editor-In-Chief of Pharmaleaders ( www.pharmaleaders.co.in ). “India is a land of billion opportunities; it is also a land of endless possibilities & since Politics is art of possible, all these connections sneak of a deep rooted connections as CBI has filed a charge sheet saying Jagan allegedly received Rs 1,172 crore as bribes from investors from wide spectrum of business communities in south including healthcare players named above”..

What is wrong in getting political favours in return with huge compliments in donating a hefty amount to the politicians, when laws are broken to please a select few in healthcare business, when the similar exercises are seen in other sectors across the globe? In fact, if we look & scan all business empires, we will find strong political connections says Satya while investigating the connections of companies like Aurobindo Pharma, Hetero Drugs, Ramky Pharma & Trident Life Sciences, Matrix Laboratories,  presently questioned by CBI in connection with unlawful dubious connections. In Fact, Nimmagadda Prasad, better known as Matrix Prasad is arrested & still in Jail while others have been out on bail.

In fact if we track our history, the story goes back to the economic liberalization era post 1999 when major reforms were charted, the than CM of AP, Chandrababu Naidu was also allegedly involved in getting business community & striking a partnership, cut deals to favour government allocations. The latest buzz in healthcare companies who were named by CBI in their chargesheet, to my mind, are not surprising, given the massive nepotism, found in CBI report, of a total of 72 Companies, being framed.

The Company in news are very prominent & successful in global healthcare business, while Aurobindo pharma  is big time in semi synthetic penicillin market worldwide & is a global leader while Hetero Drugs is a global player in Bulk Drugs. While Ramky Pharma is a knowledge pharma city & Trident Life Science is a CRO, an extended arm of Aurobindo Pharma. All the four outfits have been in public eye ever since CBI grilled the owners of these companies alleged to have been in a favorable entry due to Jagan connections.

Lets have a close look of these Five Companies who are alleged to have been favored by Jagan.

Jagan received Rs 1,172 crore as bribes from investors: CBI

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has disclosed that Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, popularly known as Jagan, accepted Rs 1,172 crore from various investors as bribe and in turn helped them get favours from the state government. The favours are mainly land, mining leases and licences for new industries. Jagan, Member of Parliament from Kadapa and late chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s son, was arrested by the investigating agency on May 27 in connection with a disproportionate assets case. A CBI special court in Hyderabad on May 28 remanded him to judicial custody for 14 days. He will remain in the Chanchalguda Central Prison till June 11. According to CBI, Jagan, president of the YSR Congress Party, amassed huge wealth during 2004-2009, when his father was the chief minister. Jagan’s declared assets were Rs 1.7 crore in 2004. It shot up to Rs 77 crore in 2009 and then to a whopping Rs 356 crore in 2011. As per the investigating agency, Jagan misused his father’s office to grant favours to industries and individuals. In turn, they invested in Jagan’s businesses including Sandur Power Company, Janani Infrastructure and Jagati Publications which brings out Sakshi, a Telugu daily.

The investigation into Jagan’s wealth by CBI started in August last year following a direction by the Andhra Pradesh High Court. The court was acting on a petition filed by a ruling Congress member of the legislative assembly P Shankar Rao. CBI in its First Information Report (FIR) has named 73 firms and individuals in connection with the case, apart from Jagan as accused number one and his financial advisor V Vijay Sai Reddy as accused number two. A few industries like Aurobindo Pharma, Hetero Drugs, Trident Life Sciences and Ramky Pharma India Limited, Penna Group, India Cements and Dalmia Cements have also figured in the chargesheets and the remand report submitted by the investigating agency in the court. The individuals named in the chargesheets include industrialist Nimmagadda Prasad, promoter of Vodarevu and Nizampatnam Port and Industrial Corridor (Vanpic), Y Vijaya Lakshmi Prasad, general manager of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) and senior IAS officer B P Acharya and G Venkataram Reddy, a former vice-chairman of Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (VUDA). According to CBI, in many instances the government–owned APIIC acquired cultivable land from farmers for developing industrial parks and special economic zones, and then gave it to investors, a quid pro quo for their investments in Jagan’s company. For instance, APIIC gave 5,260 hectare (ha) in Guntur and Prakasam districts to Nimmagadda Prasad for Vanpic project by doctoring the terms of the concession agreement. Prasad had invested Rs 854 crore into firms owned by Jagan through his companies Alpha Villas and Gilchrist Investments. Besides Vanpic, he was also given several concessions under the Stamps and Registration Act, alleges CBI. Farmers who lost their land-holdings to Vanpic are still protesting against forcible acquisition of land. Prasad was arreasted by CBI on May 15.

Aurobindo and Hetero groups were allotted more than 60 ha on lease at Rs 17.5 lakh a ha in the green industrial park of APIIC at Jadcherla in Mahbubnagar without proper assessment of requirement of land, says CBI.  The transaction resulted in a loss of Rs 12.26 crore to APIIC as the rate fixed by the Price Fixation Committee of the government ranged from Rs 37.5 lakh-50 lakh a ha. Around 12 ha of land at the Export Promotion Industrial Park at Pashamylaram in Medak were transferred to Trident Life Sciences Limited by falsely representing that it was a 100 per cent subsidiary of Aurobindo Pharma. Otherwise, the deal was not allowed as per APIIC rules. In another instance, Ayodhya Rami Reddy, promoter of Ramky Pharma , which is implementing a pharma city over 971 ha in Visakhapatnam, wrongfully gained around 370 ha, and made a gain of Rs 133 crore from selling this plot.  Ramky had invested Rs 10 crore in Jagati Publications as a quid pro quo for the benefits it secured.