NEW DELHI: At a time political parties of all hues make a hue and cry over corruption, over 100 cases of bank-frauds and misappropriation amounting to Rs 50,000 crore to be investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation still await the general consent from state governments.
The information was disclosed in the Rajya Sabha in response to a zero-hour question raised by BJP MP Sushil Kumar Modi. Nine states have withdrawn their general consents to the CBI.
Quoting details from the government’s reply, the BJP MP said, “The cases include Punjab National Bank’s Rs 1,107 crore fraud and Bank of Baroda’s Rs 739 crore fraud. Investigation into the two cases is yet to start as the CBI is still awaiting the Maharashtra government’s consent.”
He said he had urged the Central government to take necessary steps to ensure such grave crimes are dealt with urgently and the CBI investigations into cases worth Rs 50,000 crore be started soon without delays in getting consents.
So far, the states of Maharashtra, West Bengal, Punjab, Rajasthan, Kerala, Mizoram, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Meghalaya have withdrawn consent to the CBI to investigate cases in the states related to bank frauds or other financial fraud cases.
The Meghalaya is the latest to withdraw its general consent to the CBI investigation.
Meanwhile, CBI sources said that more than 100 requests were made in the last few years for obtaining general consent, which have still not been granted by the states concerned.
Last year, the Supreme Court had expressed serious concern upon being informed that the requests for general consent were pending in many states.
The national investigative agency was formed under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946 with mandatory of obtaining the consent of the state government before starting investigation into a crime or corruption case related to the states.