A series of searches conducted by Income Tax department authorities on the offices and residences of the promoters of prominent film production house Mythri Movie Makers for the last five days are learnt to have revealed several important inputs on the investment flow into the company.
The I-T authorities have not found any evidence of the connections between the promoters of MMM and prominent political leaders of Andhra Pradesh, including former minister and YSRC legislator Balineni Srinivas Reddy, as alleged by Jana Sena Party leaders.
But the raids have reportedly revealed that the MMM had received huge amount of black money from NRIs through hawala mode. The magnitude of these investments is said to be around Rs 700 crore.
According to reports, the investments from the NRIs have first come into a Mumbai-based company and from there, to seven different companies, including the Mythri Movie Makers through hawala route.
Reports said the MMM promoters, too, had paid Rs 150 crore to a Bollywood director through the hawala mode. Similar payments were made to the actors of an ongoing Telugu movie, which is a sequel to a previous super hit movie.
The I-T authorities have also reportedly found that in the past, too, the MMM had made payments to two top heroes in a similar mode.
The department authorities are checking the account books of these heroes. They might be called for questioning regarding these payments, sources said.
Once the accounts are verified and confirmed, the case might get transferred to Enforcement Directorate which would probe into it in the angle of money laundering, sources added.
