CC Thampi: An NRI millionaire, now in ED net, climbed up from humble beginnings.

Source – newindianexpress.com

KOCHI: Cheruvathur Chekkutty Thampi known as CC Thampi, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate from New Delhi on money laundering charges, hails from Kottol near Pazhanji in Thrissur. It was after Thampi from humble beginnings managed to reach the UAE in the 1970s, while he was in the mid-twenties, that his fortunes started to look up.

Son of late PC Chekkutty,  the 63-year-old had been a major player in real estate sector in the UAE since the 1980s. “We don’t know much about his academic qualifications. All we know is he reached Ajman in the late 70s. He worked at hotels and took up petty jobs. Later, he started  ‘Holiday Constructions’ which undertook small-scale construction works at a time when the sector was booming in the emirate,” said a former Income Tax officer who had probed Thampi back in 2012.

‘Holiday Constructions’ had successfully executed several major projects in Ajman and Sharjah. And Thampi invested the money in the hotel, retail, car rental and investment businesses. In 2008, he set up the Cheruvathur Foundation and established Thejus Engineering  College in Thrissur. He started Holiday City Centre, a real estate company, which acquired vast tracts of farmland across India including in Kerala. His vast network of contacts, includes politicians from  Kerala, Karnataka, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. 

“In 2009, he appeared on the radar of national agencies when the CBI  registered a case against him for securing AICTE approval for his engineering college without meeting the guidelines. However, the CBI closed the case after investigation. In 2012, the Enforcement Directorate and I-T department started tracking his investments,” an official said.

In November 2012, ED served a notice on Thampi, directing him to appear for interrogation as part of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).  But he filed a writ petition before the Kerala High Court and obtained an interim stay. Later, in 2016, the writ petition was dismissed.

The ED had in 2017 issued fresh summons directing him to appear before the agency in connection with payments to the tune of Rs 288 crore. However, before the given date, the ED took him into custody in Chennai in December 2016. But he was let off after it was legally challenged. “Soon, the CBI reopened the case related to receiving AICTE approval for the college through the wrong channel. In August 2018, the CBI had filed a chargesheet against him in the case,” the official said. Thampi has been interrogated multiple times over reported links with Robert Vadra.