BENGALURU: Inquiries into the scam in the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department have confirmed unauthorised transactions of around Rs 10,279.80 crore over several years.
Disclosing this at a press conference on Friday, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj H K Patil said that civil and criminal action will be initiated against all those responsible for conducting the unauthorised transactions, opening dummy accounts and parking money meant for various schemes and diverting those funds as well.
The irregularity in question, according to the minister, occurred between 2009 and 2014. An inquiry was first conducted by IAS officer Punati Sridhar. After his reports pointed out to financial misconduct, another committee was appointed. It consisted of finance experts led by Accounts Department Director
B N Shivarudrappa.
Stating that the report confirmed the instances of misconduct detailed in the Punati Sridhar report, Patil said that misappropriation occurred through 106 dummy accounts.
“In accordance with the recommendation of the report, action will be initiated against former Karnataka Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency Director (retd) P Boregowda, Deputy Secretary in RDPR Ramakrishna, Syndicate Bank and T S Giri and Associates,” he added.
The minister has also directed Karnataka Institute of Public Auditors (KIPA) to submit a report within two months after scrutinising all the accounts and transactions.
In total, Rs 10,179.80 crore of unauthorised transactions have taken place, out of which Rs 495 crore has been recovered. Around Rs 273 crore had been diverted from the main account to other unauthorised accounts, Rs 386 crore is missing and the government has lost Rs 269 crore in interest.
Out of the 106 dummy accounts, 104 accounts were with Syndicate Bank and two were with Dena Bank. When asked about the alleged involvement of a former chief secretary in the scam, Patil refused to comment.