The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is embroiled in yet another scam, this time involving the office of the Chief Accounts Officer (CAO). Three officials in the CAO office have been accused of misappropriating funds amounting to ₹4.42 crore. An FIR has been lodged against them with the Bengaluru Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) and at the Halasuru Gate Police Station.
“Accounts officers R. Ramamurthy and Anitha, and second divisional assistant Raghavendra have been suspended and an enquiry ordered,” said civic chief B.H. Anil Kumar.
The officers allegedly diverted funds to an account that they had opened in the name of a contractor. The scam came to light when the contractor, C.G. Chandrappa from M/s CGC Infra Projects Pvt. Ltd., was informed that his dues had been cleared. He found out that the money had been deposited in an account that had been opened in his name in a cooperative bank in Hampinagar.
In a letter to the commissioner on February 12, Mr. Chandrappa stated that neither he nor his company has an account in the bank.
Mr. Chandrappa was to be paid for executing work pertaining to two different projects on improvement and resurfacing in different localities in Horamavu (ward number 25). The work was completed in March 2019. A detailed bill (total cost of projects was ₹4.42 crore) along with a cancelled cheque in the name of M/s CGC Infra Projects Pvt. Ltd., to which the money had to be credited, was submitted. Both bills were scrutinised and cleared for payment by the jurisdictional executive engineer.
It is alleged that Ramamurthy replaced the account details of the contractor in the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) with that of the account that had been opened in the contractor's name in the cooperative bank. He then went on leave after sharing his high-security password with Anitha. On February 11, the money was transferred. Soon after the money was credited, it was allegedly withdrawn.
Past scams
In June 2019, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached properties worth ₹5.2 crore belonging to nine contractors accused in the BBMP fake bill scam.
In November 2019, a former BBMP assistant engineer (Mahadevapura zone) was arrested for allegedly playing a key role in a Transferable Development Rights (TDR) scam for road widening projects. Several civic officials were suspended by the then commissioner after the Technical Vigilance Cell under Commissioner (TVCC) report confirmed that they were involved in issuing fake bills. The scam, estimated to be to the tune of ₹1,500 crore, involved creation of fake bills by contractors pertaining to R.R. Nagar, Malleswaram and Gandhinagar Assembly constituencies between 2008 and 2011.