VISAKHAPATNAM: In a first in the State, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has invoked Special Court Act against an officer arrested last year for amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income. The Act allows the government to confiscate and sell, use or mortgage his properties.Sleuths in November last year apprehended Gedela Lakshmi Ganeswara Rao, a surveyor in the Survey and Land Records Department, Vizianagaram district, for amassing Rs 8 crore.
Director-general of ACB RP Thakur during a press conference on Monday said only two other states — Odisha and Bihar — followed the system, making AP the third in the country to implement such a stringent Act “to infuse fear among corrupt officials”. Thakur explained that as per the AP Prevention of Corruption Act, the properties of accused could only be attached, but the Special Court Act permitted the government to confiscate the assets.
“Through this move, the ACB has sent a clear message to corrupt officials that they can no longer enjoy illegally amassed properties if convicted. If the accused is convicted, the government can do whatever it deems fit with the property; if he or she is acquitted, the assets will be returned,” Thakur said.
It may be recalled that the ACB raided Rao’s properties at 18 places in Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, East Godavari, West Godavari and Hyderabad. The tainted officer had amassed illegal properties worth `8 crore. Rao has been suspended several times, including last year. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) looking into the land scam in Visakhapatnam registered cases against him for forgery, creation of false documents, tampering of revenue records and land grabbing.
According to Thakur, the ACB filed a chargesheet on Monday and confiscation of property would take about two months.The ACB DG added that the conviction rate in AP was 68 per cent, one of the highest in the country. “We want to raise it to 70 per cent.”