MAA fraud controversy: Sivaji Raja alleged of misappropriation of funds; Naresh demands inquiry

The MAA (Movie Artists Association) has landed in a controversy after association president Sivaji Raja and vice president Srikanth was alleged of misappropriation of funds. General secretary Naresh demanded a Fact-Finding Committee (FFC).

MAA held its Silver Jubilee celebration event in the US earlier this year and Chiranjeevi was the chief guest at this function. Recently, it has come to light that the funds were misused and President Sivaji Raja is allegedly behind the fraud. The association convened a meeting to discuss the issue and there was a heated argument between Sivaji Raja and the other members.

Some of the members suggested setting up of a Fact-Finding Committee (FFC) to inquire into the allegations, but Sivaji Raja declined it. "Sivaji Raja continued to hurl abuses using unparliamentary language. Some members condemned him by saying he was indulging in loose talk and not handling things properly," an executive member told Deccan Chronicle.

Banerjee, Nagineedu, Srikanth and Edida Sriram are supporting Sivaji Raja, while the remaining 11 members of the executive committee want an inquiry. Sivaji Raj, who is very close to Chiranjeevi's family, wanted the megastar to intervene in it. "Srikanth and Sivaji Raja are planning to meet Chiranjeevi in order to get him to intervene. But Chiru, who knows about it, isn't showing interest," said a source.

On Monday, MAA President Sivaji Raja, Vice President Srikanth and Treasurer Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao held a press conference to clarify the allegations. They claimed that there was no misappropriation of funds. "We kept updating Chiranjeevi throughout this tour, so he knows how it went," asserted Sivaji Raja and Srikanth.

Actor Dr Naresh, who is the general secretary, was also not present at the press conference. When asked about it, Srikanth replied, "We requested him to come for this meet, but he didn't want to come as he is busy with his shooting."

However, Naresh has denied the claims of Srikanth as he was not busy with any shoot. "I am available and there is no shoot today. We held an executive committee meeting wherein a majority of the people asked for a fact finding committee. However, Sivaji Raja did not agree for it. He is single-handedly trying to run the organisation," the general secretary of MAA told DC.

Naresh said that Sivaji Raja group acted like hooligans during the meeting. He added "As a secretary, I feel the responsibility of investigating this scam. The three-point agenda was to constitute a committee, hand over the office to the secretary and give full powers to the general secretary for the smooth functioning of MAA."