Fraud in Messi’s Name; Raids ongoing at five locations simultaneously

KOCHI: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) has registered a case in connection with the fraud in the name of football legend Lionel Messi. The case was registered at the Kalamassery police station on Tuesday. Raids were conducted at the office of Reporter Channel, which sponsored the event, and at the residence of its owner, Anto Augustin.

The raids started at around 2 am today. The raids are being conducted simultaneously at five locations, including Kochi and Wayanad. FIR was registered after preliminary investigation revealed serious irregularities.

According to the findings of the special investigation team constituted by the government’s GST department, a fraud amounting to Rs 549.22 crore was allegedly carried out on the pretext of bringing football legend Messi to Kerala. The investigation team found that the fraud was carried out under the leadership of Reporter Broadcasting Company, the main sponsor of the event.

The team has reportedly uncovered several irregularities, including money laundering, illegal foreign-exchange transactions, secret US dollar account dealings, unaccounted non-banking loans, income-tax evasion, and under-valuation of stamp papers. It was also found that state government institutions committed serious lapses in preventing the alleged fraud. The investigation report in this regard was handed over to the government a few days ago.