Uttar Pradesh MGNREGA scam

After the Allahabad High Court's order of CBI probe into Uttar Pradesh's Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MGNREGA) scam, it is being anticipated that a special investigation can be ordered against Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's special secretary Pandhari Yadav along with 25 other IAS officers. During the time of the scam in 17 districts of UP, Pandhari Yadav was designated as District Magistrate of Sonbhadra district, where Rs 200 crore scam was executed during his tenure.

Before Court's orders of CBI inquiry into the MGNREGA scam, Economic Offences Wing (EOW) was investigating the matter. EOW's then ADG AL Banerjee had submitted his inquiry report of Mirzapur district in the High Court, but the court didn't find it sufficient and ordered a CBI probe. Along with this, the court also ordered the investigating agency to probe the matter on the same points in every district. At the end, the court questioned EOW's report which only blames low ranked officers, while the high ranked officers have been left out of the scam.

As the probe has been handed over to the CBI, it is also being said that very soon the investigation will reach out to then Rural Development Minister Daddu Prasad and Agriculture Education and Agriculture Research Minister Rajpal Tyagi. The probe can also tough former Chief Minister Mayawati. The probe will also affect DMs, COs of several districts and some of the high ranked officers of MGNREGA.

It is surely going to give you a shock that every year the government programs like MGNREGA gets crores of rupees as aide but even after the involvement of such big money, the government is not having any records of the expenses. Even it is not taking any tough steps to eradicate corruption and irregularities in this scheme. Under MGNREGA, the government is currently running several development programs like roads, flood control, water harvesting, cleaning and developing of small or big canals, irrigation facilities and dozens of more plans. But the worst fact about all this is that there is no record of expenditure on these works.

The officers have been taking money from the government to buy several things that doesn't even exist. Such kind of corruption is responsible for the poor condition of the dwellers of UP's rural area. Even after knowing almost everything about this, the government is not looking serious and trying to escape from taking any strict decision against the scammers.

Earlier, when Akhilesh Yadav was informed about the scam, he took a strange decision. Ignoring the proposal of Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh for a CBI inquiry, he handed over the case to EOW.

It is a famous saying in UP that if the government wants to throw any matter into garbage, then they order an EOW inquiry. However, this order has raised many unanswered questions that when Pandhari Yadav was placed in the CM's office, then will it be a fresh probe into the big matter or not? And will Akhilesh Yadav remove him from his office for a clean inquiry in the matter?

Earlier, during Bahujan Samaj Party regime in Utter Pradesh, Jairam Ramesh had also penned a letter to then CM Mayawati to initiate a CBI probe into the MGNREGA scam. But at that time no action was taken.

Being disappointed with BSP government's response, the central government sharpened their attacks on the state government. In the same bid, they also claimed that the BSP government is intentionally trying to save the tainted authorities in MGNREGA scam in Sonebhadra, Balrampur, Gonda, Sant Kabirnagar and three other districts.

After notifying that the funds of above mentioned UP districts are being openly misused, Ramesh said that he will ask Akhilesh Yadav for a thorough probe into the matter and would ask him to bring transparency into the usage of MGNREGA funds.

Ramesh also said that for effective implementation of job scheme, the centre has introduced CAG audit of funds. Its report will be submitted in the office by January 31, 2014. He also confirmed that the gram panchayats will be introduced with a chartered accountant for the first time for proper use of MNREGA funds. The centre has asked every state to elect 12 gram panchayats from every district which have claimed maximum spending on MGNREGA funds. All the collected statistics will be analyzed by a chartered accountant.

Earlier, being disappointed with Mayawati's approach towards the matter, Ramesh had also written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him to take effective steps against the state government. And this latest appeal by Ramesh has raised Mayawati's tension even after being dethroned as the Chief Minister. And on the other hand, the Akhilesh Yadav led Samajwadi Party has again landed into the circle of questions with their latest order of EOW inquiry.

SOURCES : The Times Of India

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Former Bank of Moscow Managers in $30.5 mln Currency Scam

May 31, 2011- The former senior executives of the Bank of Moscow could have cost the bank more than one billion rubles ($30.5 million) through fictitious foreign exchange transactions, the investigation department of the Russian Interior Ministry said on Thursday.
 “According to investigators, in the period of 2009-2010 a number of former executives and employees of the bank, using their official position, have entered into more than 300 bogus contracts for buying and selling foreign currency, illegally obtaining the difference between the rates of the ruble,” the statement said.
According to authorities, the value of the bogus conversion transactions exceeds one billion rubles.  New suspects have been named in the Bank of Moscow embezzlement case, including ex-Vice President Alexei Sytnikov, Kommersant newspaper reported on Thursday.
Former Bank of Moscow president, Andrei Borodin, and his former deputy, Dmitry Akulinin, formerly the two most senior managers of the Bank of Moscow, were placed on an Interpol wanted list after a criminal case was opened against them, in late 2010, on charges of fraud involving government funds, and money laundering.
They are accused of illegally lending $443 million to shell companies which then transferred the funds to Yelena Baturina, the wife of Moscow’s former Mayor Yury Luzhkov, and former owner of the construction empire Inteco.  Another case was opened against them in February this year on suspicion of stealing over $225 million.

 SOURCES : RIA Novosti

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Orissa MGNREGA scam

Separate CBI teams from New Delhi arrived in Orissa on May 2011 and began probing into the alleged large-scale corruption in implementation of the rural job scheme under MGNREGA, official sources said on Tuesday.

The officials of the premier investigating agency have already reached the districts of Rayagada, Kalahandi and Koraput, an official said adding they have met district level officials before verifying documents relating to MGNREGA.
"The state government has appointed nodal officers in six different districts to cooperate the CBI teams in the investigation," chief minister Naveen Patnaik said.

A CBI team arrived in Bhubaneshwar on Tuesday morning. "We have been helping them in beginning probe," said Rayagada district collector NB Jawle.
The state government had already provided logistic support like police officers, nodal officers in each probe districts and vehicles to the CBI teams as desired by the investigating agency, said chief secretary BK Patnaik.
The CBI on May 12, 2011 was directed by the Supreme Court to probe into the alleged corruption in the rural job scheme. The court gave this direction while disposing a PIL filed by a Delhi-based NGO which alleged that about Rs. 500 crore scam in implementation of MGNREGA in the state.
The CBI teams comprised officials of the investigating agency's state branch, Orissa police and some state government officials. The teams, on the first phase, would probe alleged corruption in Kalahandi, Koraput and Rayagada districts, part of the poverty stricken KBK region, officials said.
The team was scheduled to take up cases in three other districts in the second phase. The Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS), the NGO, had alleged large-scale corruption in 100 villages of the six districts in the state.
Besides meeting block level officials and verifying documents there, the CBI team is likely to directly interact with the beneficiaries, they said.
The CBI has been directed to submit its preliminary investigation within six months.
The investigating agency was directed to take into consideration of three documents - survey report of CEFS, the report of CAG and findings of Hyderabad based NIRD (national institute of rural development)

SOURCES :  Hindustan Times

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Indian Air Force land scam 2011

The CBI has sought land records from the Jammu and Kashmir government after registering a preliminary enquiry to probe the alleged scandal in issuing more than 70 NOCs to private realtors for work on an air force land in Srinagar, which included the airbase.

"It is learnt that the CBI has sought land records from state government's revenue department and air force. A CBI team had visited Srinagar for on the spot inspection and sought revenue records from the deputy commissioner of Budgam, apart from shifting through files available with the directorate general of defence estates office," a source said.

"It was found that primafacie there have been irregularities in the issue of NOCs which may have wider implications," defence minister A. K. Antony said.



After registering a Prelimnary Enquiry (PE) into rpt into alleged land scam around high-security Srinagar airport, CBI has sought details of land records from Jammu and Kashmir revenue department as well as from Indian Air Force.

Besides the CBI probe, the state revenue department has also initiated an inter-departmental probe to fix responsibilities if anyone was found guilty of giving No Objection Certificate to private builders, official sources said.

CBI had recently registered a PE against unnamed officials of Defence Ministry and revenue personnel of Jammu and Kashmir government for alleged irregularities in the sale of land near the airport.

A team of the agency sought revenue records from the Deputy Commissioner of Budgam besides checking the records available with the Directorate General of Defence Estates office, the sources said.

Defence Ministry initiated a probe into the sanction of No Objection Certificate (NoC) for sale of land to private persons around the airport after Indian Air Force complained of construction around the area, one of the strategic installations in the Kashmir Valley.

The Deputy Commissioner of Budgam was also holding an in-house probe following instructions from state Revenue Minister Raman Bhalla, the sources said.

They said the Minister had given clear instructions to the department for extending all cooperation to the CBI team.

The sources said the CBI team had visited the site around the airport.

 SOURCES :

• PTI 
• ZEE NEWS

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Bihar Solar lamp scam – INR400 million

Over 200 outgoing village body heads, or 'mukhiyas', are in deep trouble in Bihar in connection with a scam in the purchase of solar lamps at a time when elections for 2.62 lakh panchayat posts are approaching.

The chief judicial magistrate's (CJM) court issued arrest warrants against 227 mukhiyas in Sitamarhi district this week for purchasing solar lamps from unauthorised shops. Now, police have been directed to arrest them. All such mukhiyas are absconding to evade arrest before filing nomination papers to contest in the panchayat polls, police officials in Sitamarhi said.

Besides mukhiyas, more than 200 government officials, including block development officers (BDOs), are also under the scanner in the solar lamps scam said to be worth Rs 40 crores.

Sitamarhi Superintendent of Police Rakesh Kumar Rathi said an FIR (first information report) was lodged against 233 mukhiyas in connection with this last year, of whom six died in the last few months.

"The mukhiyas purchased solar lamps violating government policy. They purchased locally made solar plates and batteries instead of the government approved TATA BP solar plates and Exide batteries," Rathi said.

This was not all; the bills for the purchase of 7,000 solar lamp sets were also found to be fake. Ironically, 90 percent of the solar panels stopped working soon after being fitted in villages.

The mukhiyas are alleged to have purchased solar lamps from unauthorised shops and dealers in a hurry, ignoring all the other approved government schemes.

Police found during their probe that the solar panels and batteries had TATA BP and Exide logos but everything was locally assembled inside.

Rathi said police would arrest all the accused mukhiyas and would soon begin to attach their property if they were found absconding.

A senior official in the rural development department in Patna said a similar solar lamps purchase scam may be going on in other districts. "In the coming days, the scam will come into the picture from other districts as top officials have been looking into it," Rathi said.

Most rural areas in power-starved Bihar reel in the dark and the government's decision to provide light to villages through solar lamps was seen as positive step. But the scam is a setback, people say.

According to the state election commission, the first phase of the panchayat poll would be held April 20 and the 10th phase was held May 28, 2011.

SOURCES : ZEE NEWS

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BL Kashyap – EPFO scam – INR1.69 billion

The CBI has registered a case against nine senior officials of Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) and others for defrauding the exchequer of Rs 169 crore. The CBI also named four employees of a Delhi-based private firm in the case registered on Wednesday.

The agency conducted raids at 23 locations including the offices of accused senior EPFO officers on Wednesday.

The CBI case names S K Khanna, the then additional central provident fund commissioner (north zone), who is presently posted in Chandigarh; M S Kalia, the then regional provident fund commissioner-1, Delhi (south), now posted in Ludhiana, and C S Gogna, the then enforcement officer, EPFO, Delhi (south) currently working in Jaipur.

B L Kashyap and Sons hit lower circuit limit of 20% at Rs 15.25 at 10:21 IST on BSE on reports the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation has asked the company to pay Rs 593 crore in provident fund dues and penalty by 15 August 2011. Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 39.88 points, or 0.22%, to 17,980.43. On BSE, 6.57 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against an average daily volume of 87,201 shares in the past one quarter. The stock was currently at its 52-week low levels. The stock hit a high of Rs 18 in early trade. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 50 on 29 September 2010. The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month until 3 August 2011, gaining 1.06% compared with the Sensex's 4.38% fall. However, the scrip had underperformed the market in past one quarter, sliding 13.61% as against 3.21% decline in the Sensex. The small-cap construction company has an equity capital of Rs 20.54 crore. Face value per share is Re 1. According to reports, B L Kashyap and Sons has been charged with carrying out the country's biggest provident fund (PF) evasion. The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has reportedly warned that if the company fails to pay up Rs 593 crore in provident fund dues and penalty by 15 August 2011, recovery proceedings will be initiated against it for evasion of workers' PF payments from April 2005 to December 2010. Reports suggested that the country's retirement fund regulator has also filed a police complaint against top officials of the company for forging employee muster rolls and submitting fake records, after a forensic analysis revealed the same thumb impression had been put against the records of several employees. The provident fund rules stipulate that 12% of the basic salary of all employees earning up to Rs 6,500 a month must be compulsorily deposited in their PF accounts. The employer makes a matching contribution. B L Kashyap and Sons' net profit fell 1.7% to Rs 13.92 crore on 62.8% increase in net sales to Rs 474.14 crore in Q4 March 2011 over Q4 March 2010. B L Kashyap is a construction and infrastructure development company with a pan-India presence. Its service portfolio extends across the construction of factories and manufacturing facilities, IT campuses, commercial & residential complexes, malls and hotels. SOURCES : www.indiainfoline.com & The Times of India

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Assam Education scam

The BR Ambedkar School in Guwahati, which has apparently received Rs 4,01,450 for its 217 students, actually does not exist.

Sources : IBN LIVE

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Stamp Paper scam

Enforcement Directorate sleuths have closed in on Ujjain district treasury accounts clerk cum store keeper who is the alleged kingpin of the Rs 2.34 crore stamp paper scam. In September, 2010, during a routine check Ujjain treasury officials unearthed a major stamp paper scam and then treasury store keeper Ashok Sharma, was suspended and an inquiry ordered against him.

Ahmedabad zonal office of ED, which is probing the case, on May 20, 2010, attached immovable properties worth Rs 50 lakh. However, ED officials said that the market value of these properties, is over Rs 1.5 crore. ED had booked Sharma under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in October.

Sharma, who worked on a salary of Rs 9,000, managed to issue stamp papers valuing more than Rs 2 crore making fake demands to Nagpur and Hyderabad treasuries and sold them to licensed stamp paper vendors in Madhya Pradesh.


SOURCES : The Times Of India

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Pune ULC scam

The probe into Pune Urban Land Ceiling (ULC) scam will stay with the CID. A Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Deepak Verma and Justice Dalveer Bhandari stayed the Bombay High Court order, which on February 22 asked the CID to hand over the case to the CBI.
With the Supreme Court's order, some senior bureaucrats, whose names figured in the Sudhakar Joshi Committee report, have got a breather. Mr. Sudhakar Joshi headed the one-man committee formed in 2009 to look into the land scam, which has reportedly cost the State Government Rs. 300 crore.
The report submitted by him says 29 people are involved in the scam.

The district and sessions court has granted ad interim anticipatory bail to Atul Panse, the alleged main conspirator in 25 Urban Land Ceiling (ULC) certificate scam cases.
Panse, facing charges of forging ULC orders, has obtained anticipatory bail in 17 cases registered with the Swargate police and eight cases with the Shivajinagar police.
In the event of his arrest, he will be released on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 15,000 each with solvent sureties of the like amount. He was directed to give attendance at the office of the criminal investigation department (CID), Pune, on every Wednesday and Sunday between 10 am and 11 am.
The CID is investigating 29 ULC scam cases as per the directions of the Bombay high court. Tahsildar Vivek Pralhad Salunkhe of the office of additional collector and the competent authority of the Pune Agglomeration is complainant in all the cases.
The CID had earlier arrested Panse, builder Sharad Kokate and real estate agent Sujay Chopade in connection with the scam on October 17. They were later released on interim bail.
The complaint against Panse and others were registered for allegedly forging ULC order no. 1471-CH dated December 9, 1998, in respect of 4,100 sq mt land at S.No. 126/1 at Wakad village in Mulshi taluka, for obtaining pecuniary gains and cheating the Pune Agglomeration and the state government.
The CID had also booked landowner Sindhu Suresh Chavan and real estate agent Ramesh Popat Giramkar in the scam.

Panse moved the sessions court as he was shown as an absconding suspect in several scam cases.
His lawyers Vidhyadhar Koshe and Vinod Shete told the court that the Swargate police had arrested Panse and others in a case no. 444/2005, wherein the alleged fake ULC orders were seized. A chargesheet filed against the suspects is pending before a magisterial court. The same ULC orders cannot be recovered from his client and others even if their custody was transferred in other scam cases.

Koshe argued that the Supreme Court has stayed the HC order passed in the public interest litigation filed by BJP state spokesperson Madhav Bhandari. The Supreme Court has stayed the HC order of transferring the investigations in the 29 cases to the CBI. The HC had reverted the probe to the CID.
Citing a Supreme Court rulingin Anupam Kulkarni's case , the lawyers pleaded to release Panse on interim anticipatory bail as he cannot be arrested again in the same crime.

Additional sessions judges S M Shinde and Vinay Joshi passed separate orders of granting interim bail to Panse in 25 ULC scam cases on October 21 and 25. The courts have issued notice to the CID, directing them to file their written statements for opposing Panse's bail pleas on the next date.
CID superintendent of police (economic offences wing) Amol Tambe told TOI on Friday that the agency will oppose the bail pleas when the courts reopen after Diwali vacations. "Panse's custody is required in other ULC scam cases. We had obtained a warrant from a magistrate court for transferring his custody in one of the cases, but we could not get his custody as he had obtained interim bail".

"The CID has invoked charges of destroying evidence under section 201 of the IPC against Panse and others," Tambe said, adding that, a proposal to appoint a special public prosecutor to conduct trial in ULC scam cases was sent to the state law and judiciary department at Mumbai for approval.

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Police in Russia Break Up $3Bln Money Transfer Scam

The Russian authorities are investigating the heads of several commercial banks over the illegal transfer of over 100 billion rubles ($3.3 billion) from Russia, the Interior Ministry’s deputy head of economic security Andrei Zdor said on Thursday.
“The unlawful scheme involved a chain of deals for the purchase and sale of shares from leading Russian companies (blue chips), where the sellers and the buyers were offshore companies and shell firms controlled by their organizers,” Zdor said.
The ministry has raided some organizations including Fondservisbank, where the accounts of firms handling the transit of the bulk of funds were registered, as part of their investigation.
Zdor said the law-enforcement agencies suspect Fondservisbank of breaking laws related to servicing the accounts of budget-financed organizations.
“During the search at Fondservisbank, the investigators found and seized documents testifying to a possible breach of legislation in the process of servicing the accounts of budget-dependent organizations, carrying out operations with government securities and the purchase and sale of foreign currency,” he said.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin recently criticized major state-run companies for channeling profits into offshore accounts.
Following Putin’s instructions, Russia’s Audit Chamber has launched inspections at the biggest state companies, Gazprom, Transneft, Russian Railways, Sovcomflot, VTB, Vnesheconombank, Rosatom, Sberbank and others, in search of corruption connected with offshore accounts.

SOURCES : RIA Novosti

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Arrest Warrant Issued in $7.5 Mln FAPSI Fraud Case

Moscow police have issued an arrest warrant for Sergei Chupryna on charges of stealing $7.5 million from the family of the late Alexander Starovoitov, who headed the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information (FAPSI) in 1991-1998.
Chupryna remains at large, the newspaper Izvestia previously reported. His alleged accomplice, Max Mueller, faces separate charges in Switzerland.
The Interior Ministry’s central investigative department in Moscow alleges that Chupryna defrauded Starovoitov’s parents of $7.5 million.
“Starovoitov, who died in 1999, willed the money to his parents. Their friend, 55-year-old Penza native Sergei Chupryna, misled the couple about the possibility of starting a government-supported charitable fund for children in Switzerland which would subsequently bear monthly interest,” a police spokesman told RIA Novosti.
“The suspect forged power of attorney documents and then transferred $7.5 million to the accounts of several companies controlled by him and his Swiss accomplice. Chupryna managed to deceive the victims for several years, but then the scam came to light and the couple alerted the police.”
Prosecutors in Penza filed a fraud lawsuit against Chupryna in 2004 that was later transferred for further investigation to the Interior Ministry’s investigative committee in Moscow, the spokesman said.
Switzerland issued an arrest warrant for Chupryna on June 5, 2012, he said.
FAPSI was the successor organization of the KGB responsible for signals intelligence and government communications security that was formed when the Soviet-era spy agency was broken up in 1991. FAPSI itself was dissolved in 2003 and its functions transferred to other agencies.

SOURCES : RIA Novosti

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Defense Company Under Investigation Over Property Scam

Managers in a Russian Defense Ministry property management company are under investigation for alleged embezzlement of up to $100 million, by selling off properties at below market value, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said on Thursday.
Managers in the Defense Ministry’s property services holding company Oboronservis also used ministry funds to renovate some of the most lucrative properties, and then illegally sold them or rented them out for commercial purposes. Some of the properties were in Moscow, which has some of Europe’s most expensive real estate.
“The State design institute, comprising a building complex in downtown Moscow, was sold for 282 million rubles (nearly $9 million) less than its market value […]. Another three buildings in central Moscow, and a land plot, were sold for just over 700 million rubles (just over $22 million), at least 200 million rubles (over $6 million) below their market value,” Markin said.
"The famous Soyuz hotel and an adjacent land plot in the capital were sold for just 600 million rubles (about $19 million), or thirty percent below market value," he added.
The investigation has also uncovered instances of real estate and land plots in Russia's Krasnodar Territory being confiscated from state use, rented out, developed and sold for alleged personal gain, the spokesman said.
Five criminal cases have been opened in connection with the affair, which investigators estimate to have caused total losses of at least 3 billion rubles (almost $100 million).
Searches were underway on Thursday at Oboronservis offices and the home of one of its managers, Elena Vasileva, investigators said.
Oboronservis’ General Director Sergei Khursevich confirmed that the agency’s central office was being searched, adding “the company’s subsidiary departments are working normally and carrying out their task of supporting the forces in accordance with the law.”
He insisted it was too early to say if offences had been committed.
“To make a statement about financial improprieties regarding the activities of the holding is premature, until the investigations are complete,” he said. Oboronservis is helping investigators by providing documents to them about the company’s activities, he said.
Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov has been informed of the investigation and arrived at one of the locations being searched, law enforcement sources said on Thursday morning.
Serdyukov also said speculation about the case was unhelpful and premature.
“Any public declaration about the amount of damage caused or the involvement of named people in Oboronservis, until they are named by the investigation, is nothing more than one version of events,” he said.
The Defense Ministry said it was interested in “an objective investigation of the case” and “would do what it could to assist.”
Oboronservis was set up in 2008, and carries out repair and services for Defense Ministry properties as well as repair and maintenance of military equipment and provision of services to military garrison towns.

SOURCES : RIA Novosti

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Con Woman Jailed Over Online Scam

MOSCOW, August 26, 2012 – A woman from Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Adygea received a four-year prison term Monday for bilking two men out of over 1.2 million rubles ($36,000), the Prosecutor General’s Office said.
The woman used a false identity and photo to register on an online dating service in May 2012, claiming to be a Moscow-based lawyer and the daughter of a rich businessman.
She also claimed she needed money for medical treatment after a car accident.
One man wired her over 500,000 rubles over the space of eight months. She then befriended the man’s friend, who subsequently sent her 680,000 rubles for her “treatment.”
SOURCES : RIA Novosti

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Officers Charged in Military Food Scam

MOSCOW, November 2012 – Investigators have opened a criminal case against two officers in Russia’s far east who allegedly overstated the value of their soldiers’ food rations by more than $200,000 in order to embezzle funds, Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a press release on Tuesday.
According to investigators, Col. Sergei Ustinov and Major Ovik Babayan, both part of a military detachment in the Khabarovsk Region, approved last January the services of food company MTC, contracted by the state to provide food for military personnel.
Investigators alledge the unit’s daily nutritional needs were overstated by about $1,000. When added up, investigators added, it cost the state about $200,000.
The two officers face a possible ten-year prison sentence if convicted of abuse of authority.

SOURCES : RIA Novosti

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ISRO's S-band scam

The Comptroller and Auditor General
said that audit of certain activities of the department of space (DoS) were under way but made it clear that media reports on alleged scam in a deal between ISRO and a private firm cannot be concluded as its "findings".
In a statement, the CAG said that its attention has been drawn to reports appearing in media regarding audit being undertaken by Audit and Accounts Department of DoS.
"The news item gives the impression as if our audit has been finalised. This office clarifies that audit of certain activities of DoS is under way.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) suspects a scandal in the allocation of S-band spectrum and is reportedly investigating losses worth Rs 2 lakh crore in the scam. Department of Space and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are under the scanner over the S-band spectrum.
The alleged scam is related to a deal between ISRO's commercial arm Antrix Corp and Devas Multimedia. ISRO is accused of allocating to Devas 70 MegaHertz of scarce S-band spectrum for a 20-year period.
The CAG was alerted because unlike in earlier contracts, ISRO placed no restrictions on Devas Multimedia for onward leasing of spectrum, which means the company could make huge amounts of money by sub-leasing its privileges.
With the S-band scam likely to even dwarf the over Rs 1.76 lakh crore 2G spectrum scam, the Bharatiya Janata Party has got some more ammunition to target the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government. The BJP also targeted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who heads the Department of Space.
"The loss has been estimated to be about Rs 2 lakh crore. Custom made two communication satellite and 10 transponders will be used for commercial purposes. Department of Space comes directly under the Prime Minister. This is just not loss of revenue, this is a rare spectrum, that's a national asset. This agreement should be nullified, with immediate recovery," said BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman.
Meanwhile, Devas has issued a statement claiming that the report was incorrect.
"There are factual inaccuracies in the stories reported, and Devas Multimedia has not received any communication, regarding the contract, from ISRO/Antrix or any other government agency. We do not own any spectrum, and the services we provide will be based on satellite transponders leased from ISRO/Antrix, wherein both – the satellite and spectrum – belong to the space research organization. Contrary to reports, the GSAT 6 satellite programme already has approval from the Union Cabinet and Space Commission for its services, and Devas is developing an innovative satellite system. With reputed investors backing the company, Devas has already secured permanent Government approvals and licenses to offer ISP services on its system, for which specific time-bound technical trials were conducted in 2009," Devas said in a statement issued on Monday.

SOURCES : CNN-IBN

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Andhra Pradesh Emmar scam

One of Andhra Pradesh's most senior bureaucrats, IAS officer BP Acharya, has been arrested in Hyderabad in connection with what's known as the Emaar scam. Mr Acharya is the Principle Home Secretary. Here are five big facts about the case:

1) What is the alleged scam? In 2003, Dubai-based real estate giant Emaar Properties formed a joint venture with the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC), which is run by the government. The partnership granted 75% equity to Emaar and the rest to the APIIC. The plan was to build a high-end township on 535 acres in Gachibowli. In addition to luxury villas, there would be a golf course and a hotel. In 2006, MGF, another Dubai-based infrastructure company, was brought into the partnership and APIIC's stake was diluted to 6.5%. Mr Acharya was then the Managing Director of APIIC and sanctioned the revised terms instead of getting the government's clearance. The CBI alleges that the new arrangement allowed Emaar-MGF to gain an undue benefit of Rs. 2500 crore. APIIC says the developers have cheated it of crores of profit by siphoning money to Dubai.

2) Why is the swindle high-profile? Over 100 film stars, politicians and celebrities have been questioned by the CBI for having bought 135 villas sold at Rs. 5000 per square yard, when the market rate was at least Rs. 60,000 per square yard, causing a loss to the government.

3) Who has been arrested? Mr Acharya, who faces charges of criminal conspiracy and cheating, is the fourth arrest in the case. A day after his arrest, Mr Acharya has been admitted in the NIMS hospital in Hyderabad. the In recent days, an industrialist named Koneru Prasad and Sunil Reddy, who is a close aide of politician Jagan Mohan Reddy, have been jailed. Vijay Raghavan, the South India finance head of Emaar-MGF, was arrested this Saturday.

4) Why is Jagan Mohan complaining about the case: Jagan's father, YSR, was Chief Minister when the state's controversial partnership with Emaar was forged. YSR died in 2009 in a helicopter crash. It is alleged that companies who benefitted from the land scam invested in Sakshi publications, which is owned by Jagan's media empire. Those close to Jagan claim the case exemplifies political vendetta.

5) Who else is being scrutinised? Parthasarathi, the brother-in-law of Congress MP KVP Ramachandra Rao, who was director of APIIC from June 2008 till May 2010, is also named as accused in the case. Mr Rao's wife was among those who were allotted a villa. He is a Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh.
SOURCES : NDTV

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Jharkhand MGNREGA scam

Almost an entire year has passed after 13 villagers of Rajabasa village toiled to dig a well under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme in Block Khuntpani, District West Singhbhum Jharkhand. They have not yet been paid their due wages.

As per government regulations, their wages were supposed to be deposited into the savings accounts opened at the local post office. But most of the villagers have not even been given their passbooks and some are reported to have been paid in cash.  There have been reports that people who have not worked on the project have been given the money instead.
 The villagers suspect that a major case of corruption is afoot involving the Block Development Office, The Postal Department and the officials of the MGNREGA.

An activist working for the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme was killed after being mercilessly beaten by a group of 12 Maoists at Jerua village in Latehar district.
The activist, Niyamat Ansari, who was stated to be a close aide of noted economist Jean Dreze, died last night after the Maoists beat him up with lathis, police sources said.
The rebels dragged him out of his residence at 7pm and started beating him up mercilessly. He was admitted to a local hospital where he died at 10pm, the sources said.
The Maoists also searched for another activist, Bhukhan Singh, in the village but could not find him.
Ansari was active in Gram Swaraj Abhiyan in Latehar's Maneka block and was convenor of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee ACT (MG-NREGA), the sources said.
The Maoists had on July 7, 2010 pasted posters warning Ansari and Singh not to 'exploit forest land or face consequences', the sources said.
Three years ago, another MG-NREGA activist, who worked with Dreze, had been killed by unidentified persons in neighbouring Palamau district which triggered widespread protests by several people, including Dreze.
NREGS is the flagship scheme of the government for the poor and aims at enhancing livelihood security of people in rural belts by guaranteeing 100 days of wage-employment in a financial year to a rural household.

The Jharkhand Police has arrested seven persons for reportedly siphoning off Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme funds. The FIR, filed on Tuesday at the Lapung Police Station, accuses assistant post master Binod Jaiswal, SBI's accountant Anil Kumar Sinha, and five officials of the Block Development Office — programme officer Samir Sagar, Rojgar Sevak Sanjay Oraon, Panchayat Sevak Mansa Kachhap, junior engineer Bindeshwar Singh and assistant engineer Rahul Kumar — of conspiring to corner the funds. The "beneficiaries" in the name of whom the funds were withdrawn either did not exist or did not receive any money.
The police stumbled upon the case after they arrested a wanted criminal, Bhola Sahu, on November 11 and recovered from him several "incriminating" documents, including 50 passbooks of SBI's Lapung branch, 150 passbooks of the Lapung post-office, 250 job cards of workers and a dozen registers/muster rolls.
"All of them were hand in glove. They conceived the NREGA schemes, prepared detailed project reports, maintained job cards and muster rolls and encashed the funds from the bank and post-office," said Ranchi SSP Praveen Singh.
Sahu told the police that Jaiswal, Sinha, Sagar, Oraon, Kachhap, Singh and Kumar were all involved in the scam. Two other accused, Apung BDO Moni Kumari and SBI's Lapung branch manger Ranu Kumar, are reported to be absconding.
Inspector B L Mishra, who is investigating the case, said the accused prepared more than 50 schemes envisaging either construction of roads or digging of ponds in villages falling under the Lapung block and withdrew funds under the MNREGA over one year.
"Although the exact amount of withdrawals has not been estimated so far, none of the MNREGA schemes is visible in Lapung," said Mishra.
Incidentally, this is the second case of an NREGA scam in the state involving post-masters routing money through post-offices and banks.
 SOURCES :

• IBN-CNN
• Indian Express

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Indian Premier League scandal

Lalit Modi may be ousted from his role as commissioner of the IPL by the Board of Control of Cricket in India powerbrokers this weekend. Photograph: Gianluigi Guercia/AFP

A cricketing scandal in India looked set to turn into a full-blown political crisis today, as senior opposition political figures sought to exploit what they say is ministers' "misuse of power" before a crucial parliamentary vote next week.
The main opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), called on two government ministers to resign following allegations of conflicts of interest and demanded an independent parliamentary investigation. The parliamentary session was briefly suspended amid rowdy scenes.
The sporting scandal, which revolves around alleged tax evasion, possible betting and misuse of political influence in the multibillion pound Indian Premier League (IPL), has already claimed one minister who was forced to give up his post when it became known that a close female friend had a stake in a newly-created team.
"A lot of people, including people in the government, are neck deep in this scam. [The] IPL has turned out to be a huge scam. I think the worst ever, the biggest ever in this country," said Yashwant Sinha, a BJP member of parliament.
Sharad Yadav, from a smaller opposition party, called the IPL a "den of thieves". Lalit Modi, the flamboyant chief executive of the IPL, was questioned for several hours by investigators from tax and foreign exchange authorities today. Modi denies all wrongdoing and has said he is happy to co-operate with any inquiries.
However, the position of the controversial businessman and sports administrator, who is credited with creating a tournament now estimated to be worth more than £2.6bn, is increasingly fragile. Modi, 46, is expected to be told to resign at a meeting of Indian cricketing authorities on Monday.
An Indian news magazine today claimed that phone conversations between Modi and Sharad Pawar, the agriculture minister and Modi's main protector and sponsor, had been tapped by intelligence agents on the orders of the government.
Outlook said that the operation was one of many carried out in recent years against senior politicians, a charge that sparked immediate outrage from politicians and journalists.
The offices of a series of IPL teams, many of which are owned by Bollywood stars and corporate tycoons, have been raided by tax authorities in recent days, leading commentators to compare the scandal with the last such affair in Indian cricket: the match-fixing scandal of 2000.
Pawar is among those targeted by the opposition. A former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and a key political ally of the ruling Congress party, he is accused of improperly using his office to influence bids for IPL contracts, a charge he denies.
A second minister is accused of diverting a passenger plane from the national carrier Air India for use by IPL players.
India has been transfixed by the affair, which has dominated headlines all week and put the government of Manmohan Singh on the defensive, days ahead of a parliamentary confidence motion over high fuel prices. Though the coalition government, elected last year, is expected by analysts to survive as few politicians currently want to see a new election, Singh has looked out of touch.

"The IPL is a private enterprise that is having some doubtful moments. The government still have the numbers [in parliament],"

The IPL is now coming to the end of its third season and remains immensely popular. An astonishing spectacle with three-hour, Twenty20 (20-over) games featuring world-class players paid hundreds of thousands of dollars and cheerleaders paid considerably less. It has created a huge fanbase that cuts across caste, class and culture.
Sachin Tendulkar, the international cricketing star and captain of IPL team the Mumbai Indians, described recent events as "rough patches". "Life is not always a smooth journey ... I am sure cricket will overcome all those hurdles," he told an Indian television channel.

SOURCES : The Guardian

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Karnataka land scam

Even as B S Yeddyurappa is trying to save his chief ministership, his sons have struck yet another land deal. They sold government land, purchased for Rs 40 lakh in 2006, for Rs 20 crore to a mining firm on Monday.

The sale took place in spite of the CM's assurance that the family had surrendered all government land given to it. The denotified land, whose sale deed was registered on November 22, was sold to South West Mining Ltd.

The sale comprises two parcels of land of 21,780 sq ft (20 guntas) each. One was owned by Yeddyurappa's younger son B Y Vijayendra and son-in-law R N Sohan Kumar. The CM's elder son and MP B Y Raghavendra owned the other plot.

The family had purchased both these properties from former minister and MLA Ess En Krisshnaiah Setty on March 22, 2006 and April 21, 2006, respectively. The property was first denotified in 2008 and later converted from agricultural to residential land.

When the CM's family purchased these lands, they were with the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). But, in clear violation of BDA rules, 40 guntas of the land were sold by Setty to CM's sons and son-in-law. The transaction happened when Yeddyurappa was the deputy CM and finance minister during the JD(S)-BJP coalition government.

According to the Karnataka Land Transfer Restriction Act, 1991, transfer, alienation or mortgage of land notified by the BDA is a criminal offence, which attracts a minimum imprisonment of three years. Yet, on November 3, 2008, the CM issued an order denotifying the land.

On Saturday, former CM and JD(S) chief H D Kumaraswamy had alleged, "South West Mining Ltd had deposited Rs 20 crore into the bank accounts of the CM's sons and son-in-law for granting a mining lease to the company." However, the CM quickly rebutted the allegation, saying his family had received the money after selling land in Bangalore.SOURCES : Times Of India

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Karnataka housing board scam

The Lokayukta police on Saturday filed an FIR against former Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa in connection with the Housing Board allotment scam.

A case of cheating and criminal conspiracy has been registered against him the Karnataka Housing Board allotment case.

FIR was filed under sections 420, 120 (b) and 13 (1) (d), according to reports.

The FIR assumes significance as it comes a day after BJP President Nitin Gadkari openly snubbed his efforts to reclaim the CM's chair.

In Bangalore, only two government agencies - the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and the Karnataka Housing Board ( KHB) - are authorised to form residential townships. Somanna is the chairman of the KHB, which comes under his ministry.

The KHB is setting up a residential township, Suryanagar, in south-west Bangalore.

Nearly 3.5 lakh people have applied for plots there.

On July 29, Somanna ordered the allotment of plots to 135 of his followers.

As the KHB chairman, the minister is empowered to allot 10 per cent of the residential plots in Suryanagar to select applicants - eminent personalities, who have contributed to society, such as young achievers, sportspersons, social workers, academicians etc - under a special category.
But such allotments have to be first approved by the KHB board meeting. The list of beneficiaries has to be then forwarded to the housing ministry for scrutiny.
Somanna, however, allegedly prepared the list of the 135 ben- eficiaries and sent it to the KHB commissioner. The list was forwarded to the ministry for approval without being placed before the KHB board.

The first list contained the names of 75 beneficiaries and the second contained 60 names.
According to KHB guidelines, allotments under special category cannot be made simultaneously.
"In any newly-formed township, 10 per cent of the plots are reserved for the special category. The plots are allotted on a case- to- case basis after evaluating the applicants' claims. But in this case, the plots under the special category are being allotted in bulk in violation of the rules," a source in the KHB said.

Somanna said he was tired of giving explanations to his detractors. "These charges are being made by vested interests, who are unhappy with my political growth. I have not committed anything wrong. All decisions have been taken according to rules," he added.
The Opposition, however, wants him sacked. "Somanna should not continue as a minister. He is involved in many scams. The CM should sack him immediately," Congress leader Siddaramaiah said. SOURCES : IBN LIVE

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Uttrakhand Citurgia land scam

                         Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank

Leaders of both ruling BJP and opposition Congress in Uttarakhand are now battling 'land scam' allegations.

Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank has come under fire from the Opposition for changing the land use of a biochemical factory at Rishikesh. Leader of Opposition H S Rawat and PCC chief Yashpal Arya alleged that it was done to provide benefits to some BJP leaders.

Nishank, however, denied allegations of any irregularity in the Rs 400 crore Rishikesh housing project where land use pattern of 30 acres of land of Citurgia Biochemicals Limited was changed for housing purposes.

"I can say with authority that the land use pattern of the project was changed strictly under the guidelines of BIFR (Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction). There was no irregularity of any kind, not even of a single paisa," Nishank said.

Rawat, who had been vociferously raising the issue in and outside the assembly, is also finding himself at the centre of a raging controversy.

Mahmud Hasan, a local farmer, has approached the minority commission with a complaint alleging that more than 100 bighas of land at Sahaspur area in Dehradun district belonging to a woman from New Delhi was "fraudulently transferred" in the name of Rawat's wife and another woman.

Nishank has said the complaint is being "looked into" while Rawat has strongly denied the allegations and dared the government to order a CBI probe into the matter.                                                                                                                                                                     SOURCES: ZEE NEWS

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MCI bribery scandal

Ketan Desai

CBI has arrested president of Medical Council of India Ketan Desai and two others for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs two crore to grant recognition to a medical

college in Punjab.

Desai was arrested late last night after the CBI conducted searches at his office here following information that he along with his associate Jitender Pal Singh was

allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs two crore to recognise a college in Punjab, CBI spokesperson Harsh Bahal said today.

Bahal said that Desai along with Singh and another associate

Dr Kanwaljit Singh of Gyan Sagar Medical College in Punjab have been arrested by CBI on corruption charges.

The spokesperson said that the three were being interrogated and searches were going on at six other places in Delhi and outside.

The CBI laid a trap after receiving a complaint and caught Singh allegedly with Rs 2 crore which was to be delivered to Desai.

The agency also conducted raids in Punjab, Delhi and Gujarat to trace Desai's other associates.

The main objectives of the Medical Council include maintenance of uniform standards of medical education and recommendation for recognition/de-recognition of medical

The MCI was dissolved by the President of India on 15 May 2010 following the arrest of MCI's president Ketan Desai by the CBI  on 22 April 2010. Desai and three others was arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe to permit Patiala-based Gyan Sagar Medical College to recruit a fresh batch of students without having adequate infrastructure. Desai, alleged middle-man J. P. Singh and doctors Sukhwinder Singh and Kanwaljit Singh have been booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act.TV channels showed visuals of the raid of the CBI earlier. 1400 kgs of gold, 600+ kgs of silver, over Rs.800 Crores in cash were allegedly seized from his house. CBI told that he had more than 35 lockers which were then yet to be opened and contents noted. He also was reported to own more than 400 properties across the country. But surprisingly Mr. Gulam Nabi Azad the then Union Minister of Health commented that the Government had no control over MCI and cannot take any action. Another astonishing fact was that from the next morning onwards there was not a single comment either in the newspapers or the electronic channel as to the further proceedings. What happened to the illegal assets? Were they seized? No answer. Were a complete panchnama of the lockers done? No clue. Were the over 400 properties identified and valued? No comments. He was later allowed to resign from MCI along with all related benefits. Obviously Ketan Desai could not have done this all alone. The higher ups upto the Minister must have been paid their share. Otherwise why was the issue hushed up?

(Ref: TV channel visuals during the raid and subsequent newsreports).

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Chandigarh booth scam

BJP workers protest against the role of officials and politicians in the booth scam in Chandigarh.

The Chandigarh Administration is sitting on the infamous booth-allotment scam's inquiry report, which is being considered as an attempt to brush it under the carpet. It has been over four months, since the former Additional Deputy Commissioner of UT, P S Shergill, submitted a scathing report on the entire scam, raising fingers at top politicians including a Union Minister, Chandigarh's former Mayor, certain police officers and numerous officials of the UT Estate Office, of being part of the booth-mafia, active in the city.

The magisterial probe conducted by Shergill, was ordered by none other than the UT Administrator Shivraj V Patil, following which the report, running into around a 1,000 pages, was submitted by Shergill to the UT Administration. The report has yielded no action from the authorities.
Sources disclosed that even the UT's Legal Remembrancer, in his opinion, given to the UT Administration, has recommended a registration of a criminal case, against 10 UT Estate Office officials, but still no action has been taken. However, the LR's opinion, almost exonerated the top politicians and police officers, named in the report, in absence of any substantial evidence to prove their involvement in the entire scam.

A dozen files pertaining to the multi-crore rupee fraud on allotment of booths (small shops) in the city, which have been stated to be missing from the UT estate

office, are not the only documents that have been “misplaced”.

According to sources, the office has been unable to trace the entire record maintained in the runup to the issue of handcart and hawkers’ licences prior to the fire in

the Bajwara ‘rehri’ market on May 23, 1989.

The licences were issued in 1986-87 to ‘rehriwallas’ and ‘pheriwallas’ carrying out their trade in the market at that time. Subsequently, in 1991, these licences were

converted into “provisional allotment” identity cards.

Sources said the estate office had no records of how and on what basis these licences were issued. “Every year, a survey was conducted to check whether genuine people

were running their business in the Bajwara market. But all the records are missing,” source added.

On the other hand, Dinesh Kumar Sood and Nathu Ram, the aggrieved party in the alleged fraud, claimed the relevant files were there in the estate office six years

earlier. “In 2005, while we were pursuing the case, I saw all the files related to the issuance of licences in 1986-87. I am sure about there being foul play behind

the missing records,” alleged Sood.

Giving his reasons, he claimed the estate officials at the time used to issue licences to their “favourites” by adopting “unfair means”. “Conducting regular surveys

and screening licence holders were tools for these unscrupulous officials to mint money,” he alleged.

Sources said the 12 files that former Additional Deputy Commissioner PS Shergill mentioned in his report as “missing”, were in fact there in the estate office.

“The inquiry officer had asked for the files to be to handed over for the probe before January 13. But these files were in process and somehow couldn’t be submitted to

the inquiry officer before the deadline,” claimed an official on a condition of anonymity.

Shergill was relieved from his charge as the Additional Deputy Commissioner on January 14, he added.

The top officials of the UT Administration, who have kept mum on the entire issue, are not ready to divulge any details on the present status of the inquiry report, submitted by Shergill.
While the administration is sitting on the inquiry report, pertaining to the entire scam, which is assumed to run in the crores, the alleged 'illegal beneficiaries' of the scam, have already sold off the booths and vanished.

Shergill's inquiry report had categorically mentioned that the people, who had initially benefited because of the 'erroneous' allotments of booths in the Krishna Market, Sector 41 of Chandigarh, had already sold off the booths to other people, making the entire issue more complicated.

SOURCES : Indian Express

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Odisha illegal Mining Scam

Probing allegations of a multi-crore mining scandal, the Orissa government has ordered suspension of work at 64 iron ore, manganese ore and limestone mines whose operators have failed to provide proof of legal mining activity.
It is learnt that leases of all these mines ran out long ago but they continued to operate without approval, authorisation or execution of any lease deed subsequently.
Director of Mines Jyoti Ranjan Patnaik said the steel and mines department issued orders last month to deputy directors of mines to verify documents of all lease holders under deemed extension. More than 600 mines operators were issued notices and told to submit documents.
"We suspended operations of these mines as they had not submitted documents. These operators were mining the area though their leases had expired and they did not have necessary clearance from the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests," Patnaik said.
Of the 64 mines where suspension of work has been ordered, 25 are in the Joda area of Keonjhar district. Besides, the state steel and mines department cancelled 482 of 2,412 licences for trading of ores, citing reasons of theft and smuggling.
In July this year, a mining scandal came to light in Keonjhar district after it was found that one Shakti Ranjan Das was mining manganese ore on behalf of Ram Bahadur Thakur Limited in two mines at Rudukela and Katasahi of Keonjhar district though no mining lease had been granted.
The government ordered a probe by the Vigilance department which found that the money involved ran into crores — it was estimated to be around Rs 110 crore.
The Vigilance department's
preliminary probe revealed that at least 53,000 tonnes of manganese ore had been lifted, allegedly with the complicity of several government officials.
Incidentally, the order for suspension of work at the mines came after journalist and social activist Rabi Das filed a petition in the Supreme Court last week, seeking an exhaustive probe by the Centrally Empowered Committee into illegal mining in Keonjhar, Sundargarh and other districts of Orissa.

The Odisha illegal mining scam amounts to Rs. 59,203 crore and illegal iron and manganese ore amounting to 22.80 crore tonnes was extracted illegally from the state for almost a decade, reveals Shah Commission report. Read first two volumes of Justice M B Shah Commission Panel report on illegal mining of iron ore and manganese in the state of Odisha. The Odisha illegal mining scam amounts to Rs. 59,203 crore and illegal iron and manganese ore amounting to 22.80 crore tonnes was extracted illegally from the state for almost a decade, the Shah Commission report has said. It has demanded a CBI investigation into the matter, warning that too many powerful people, businessmen from Odisha and outside the state, bureaucrats and politicians are involved.

SOURCES: The Indian express , CNN-IBN

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Goa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) scam

Manohar Parrikar

Three years after the Congress-led coalition government in Goa cancelled seven controversial special economic zone (SEZ) allotments, the scam is back to haunt two of the party's former chief ministers and a legislator.

Leader of Opposition Manohar Parrikar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a complaint to Director General of Police Aditya Arya last week accused former chief ministers Pratapsing Rane, now the assembly speaker, and Luizinho Faleiro and legislator Chandrakant Kavlekar, who was chairman of the Goa Industrial Development Corp (GIDC), an government agency for allotment of industrial land, of involvement in the scam.

The evidences prima facie show that the GIDC's board of directors, the GIDC officials and other public servants and some of the beneficiaries of SEZ allotments conspired together and there was an abetment of commission of offences and gross deviations and violations of rules, and forgery of records in the allotment of SEZ plots...," Parrikar said in his complaint. He alleged that land was illegally given to SEZ promoters, even before the state SEZ policy was formulated.
"Rane as chief minister and Faleiro as industries minister at that time are directly involved in the scam. They have received kickbacks for making allotments without following law," Parrikar told reporters after he filed the complaint. While Rane is the assembly speaker, Faleiro is a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest decision-making body in the Congress.

Arya said that police would act "only after scrutinising the complaint". Rane claimed that the complaint was a political gimmick, considering the fact that the state assembly polls were scheduled sometime before May 2012.

I wanted the SEZ in Goa so that youth could get jobs in Goa...Some people had come to me with the SEZ application, I just wrote there 'please help these people' (on the application). The board (IDC) takes the final decision. I have nothing to do with allotment," Rane said. "Why is the BJP raking up this after so many years? This is a political stunt," Rane said.
Congress spokesperson Mauvin Godinho said that if a complaint was filed, then "law must take its own course". But he also cautioned that the BJP was using first information reports (FIRs) to threaten Congress leaders.

Using FIRs started in Tamil Nadu, and now it is being done in Goa to harass politicians. The BJP has filed the FIRs with elections in mind," Godinho told IANS. The SEZ promoters in question are Meditab Specialities Pvt. Ltd., Cipla group, Peninsular Pharma Research Ltd., Paradigm Logistic and Distributors, Planetview Mercantile Pvt. Ltd., Inox Mercentile Pvt. Ltd., and Maxgrow.
The state government was forced to de-notify the allotment of land to the SEZ promoters in the face of stiff civil society protests a couple of years back.

SOURCE : Indian Express

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