THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Tasked with preparing a comprehensive report on corrupt government officials, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has so far identified as many as 1,300 public servants involved in graft. With information from a few departments yet to be collated, the figure could easily touch 2,000, a source revealed.
According to a vigilance source, one-fifth of officials involved in corrupt practices were from the registration, local self-government and motor vehicle departments. The massive exercise to prepare a database of tainted government officials was rolled out last August as part of VACB’s ‘Corruption Free Kerala’ project.
“There has been an increase in the number of government officials involved in corrupt practices. When the exercise was kicked off last August, the database was small. But now, going by the list that we have prepared, the extent of corruption has gone up,” a senior officer said.
This can be gauged from the fact that the VACB has had to prepare more than 500 dossiers on tainted employees, as part of its latest drive. Over the years, a mere 120 such dossiers had been prepared. They were prepared on an individual basis and detail the wealth of identified government employees and their family members. Details of bank accounts, land ownership, properties owned by nearest family members, etc, are also part of the dossier.
“Each dossier is like a repository of information on that employee. Previous work history, posts occupied, detailed financial info, etc, are part of it. It takes a minimum of five-seven days to prepare a dossier,” the officer added.
VACB prepares ‘SOS list’
The VA CB is also preparing an ‘SOS list’, which has details of officials against whom adverse inputs
have been received, suggesting their involvement in corruption. The SOS list has about 350
names and is also expected to increase.
The bureau initially planned to conclude the exercise by December 2022. However, due to the increase in volume of information that it was receiving from various departments as well as from the public, the deadline was extended. The sources said the final list will now be out by April.
Final list in April
Due to the increase in volume of information that it was receiving from various departments as well as from the public, the deadline was extended. The final list will now be out by April