KOCHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday blew the lid off suspected corruption in sale of gypsum by Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore Limited (FACT) to a private company.
The CBI conducted simultaneous raids at 22 locations, including the corporate office of FACT at Udyogamandal; residence of CMD Jaiveer Srivastava; and residences of chief general managers, deputy general managers and FACT contractors in Kerala, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai.
The CBI registered case against the FACT management, and conducted the raids based on recommendations by the the vigilance wing of the company.
“FIR has been registered against the CMD and other officials at the CBI Court in Kochi. The raids were conducted with assistance of the CBI units in the respective states. We have also recovered documents from the FACT office, including those pertaining to financial transactions of the company’s top officials,” said a CBI official.
According to the official, the vigilance wing of FACT had submitted a report before the Union Ministry of Fertilizers, after detecting the graft a few months ago, recommending action against three chief general mangers and one general manager. However, the case was referred to the CBI as there were restrictions on the internal vigilance wing to conduct probe against directors of the company.
According to CBI, in November 2015, FACT entered into a deal with Hyderabad-based NSS Pvt Ltd to sell gypsum, a byproduct that is used in the production of Portland Cement, for `130 per tonne. Gypsum is also used for stabilising volatile and dissolved nitrogenous compounds in soil. It is alleged that FACT incurred a loss of `8 crore, as gypsum was sold at a much lower price than its original price of `600-2,200 per tonne. Moreover, NSS Pvt Ltd violated the terms of the deal, which stipulated that gypsum be used only for manufacturing cement and for soil conditioning. It was found that NSS sold the gypsum purchased from FACT as soil conditioner, for `300 per packet of 50 kg. Meanwhile, FACT spokespersons refused to comment on the matter, citing confidentiality.