The CBI is getting very close to cracking the mystery of Gali Janardhan Reddy's alleged money laundering through his benami and foreign companies. The CBI and Income Tax department have gathered substantial information about black money transfers of Gali Janardhan Reddy's foreign firms in six countries including Cambodia, Dubai, Singapore, Vietnam, China and Indonesia.

The investigation agencies allege that the money was rerouted by the Obulapuram Mining Company which sold iron ore at cheaper costs to Mr Janardhan Reddy's benami foreign firms. "OMC had sold high quality ore illegally mined in Karnataka using permits from Andhra Pradesh to its benami firms based in Singapore, Dubai, Vietnam and other countries. The high quality ore was sold at $70 to $100 per tonne, much less than the international rates of $140 to 170, to benami companies like GLA Trading and four other firms for lesser price, which in turn sold them for more money. The excess money earned by the benami firms returned to the country in the form of investments and hawala transactions," a CBI official said.

The Gali brothers had purchased Man-Go Pub Private Limited in Singapore and renamed it Gali Lakshmi Aruna (GLA) International. Man-Go Pub Pvt. Ltd. had been registered on October 28, 2004. In 2007, Mr Arangannal of Singapore was appointed director and the company was renamed on November 23 as GLA the same year. The purpose of the company was changed and in December 2007, Mr Janardhan Reddy was appointed its director. One share of the company was transferred in favour of GJR Holdings International Limited located in the Isle of Man, a tax haven. The share was transferred to Interlink Services of British Virgin Islands in June 2009. CBI and ED will now probe GJR Holdings and the Interlink Services Group, GLA Trading International Ltd. which also has a presence in Dubai.

The CBI meanwhile alleged that Mr Janardhan Reddy took the lease of OMC despite knowing that it would fetch low-quality iron ore. "Obulapuram Mining Company Private Limited has three leases including 68.52 hectares at the Anthar Gangammakonda mine. No mining activity was done there. It was only to use permits from the state to transfer ore from illegal mines in Karnataka. Scientific evidence has proved that the iron ore quality is very low and not of commercial grade in the area. They were obtained with the sole purpose of their illegal mining activities," said the CBI.