Punjab Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu. PTI Photo
PUNJAB’S Local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu suspended six employees of Improvement Trust, Amritsar, for suspected embezzlement of Rs 80 crore on the basis of a preliminary probe of the vigilance bureau of his department. The case has been handed over to Amritsar police for further investigation.
Sidhu held a press conference in Amritsar Sunday and claimed that the initial probe got underway focused on three bank accounts and there was a hint of a scam of Rs 2-3 crore.
However, after inquiries by the departmental officers, the net widened to 70 bank accounts and now there is a possibility that approximately Rs 80 crore was siphoned off.
He said the departmental officials allegedly involved in the scam transferred money out of the governmental accounts in the name of their relatives and the scam remained under wraps for want of a departmental audit.
Sidhu said, “On the basis of a probe headed by the chief vigilance officer of the department Sudip Singh Manak, the police registered a case against EO Arvind Sharma, EODC Garg, EO Paramjit Singh, DCFA Daman Bhalla, Tina Vohra, CA Sanjay Kapoor and Bill Clerk Satnam Singh.”
The minister added that the money was withdrawn by issuing 49 cheques under the signatures of Arvind Sharma, Garg issuing 2 cheques under his signatures and Paramjit Singh issued 3 cheques under his signatures.
Sidhu said all those found to be “wrongdoers” would be suspended and chargesheeted.
Chief vigilance officer of the department Sudip Singh Manak, explaining the modus operandi of the alleged scamsters, said they would deposit the money pertaining to the improvement trust in different bank accounts, which used to be in the name of the Trust.
They would then withdraw the amount on the pretext of various works such as disbursal of salaries and other tasks by writing letters to the bank regarding the same. It was also found that they made drafts in the names of their relatives and got them encashed.
He said details of many such bank accounts were not even entered in the cash book of the department.
Sidhu claimed that the CA of the department did not probe the matter in spite of the fact that the government auditor raised “631 objections” on the works carried out by those allegedly involved.
