HYDERABAD, India, 8 October 2005 — The Volkswagen scam rocked the Andhra Pradesh Assembly yesterday with the main opposition Telugu Desam Party demanding the dismissal of Congress minister Botcha Satyanarayana and prosecution of government officials for their role in the episode.
When the government refused to concede their demand, TDP members staged a walk-out from the assembly.
The TDP members alleged that Satyanarayana, as the major industries minister earlier this year, had pressured officials to transfer 116.7 million rupees for equity investment in an Indian company that purportedly represented the German automaker.
Though Satyanarayana was shifted to the Department of Marketing in July this year after the scam hit the headlines, the government did not take action against him or the government officials responsible for hasty transfer of money without properly verifying the antecedents of the Indian company and its local promoters.
Vashishta Wahan Private Limited — the company registered in January this year purportedly as the special purpose vehicle for setting up the Volkswagen’s Indian project at the port city of Visakhapatnam — had misappropriated the equivalent of two million euros invested by the Andhra Pradesh government through the AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation.
