BENGALURU: RDPR and IT-BT Minister Priyank Kharge on Thursday alleged that there was corruption to the tune of Rs 500 crore in KEONICS (Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation Limited) during the previous BJP dispensation, and added that the case will be handed over to the Justice H N Nagamohan Das panel that was set up to probe the 40-per cent commission allegation by the contractors, for inquiry.
“The Accountant General’s (AG) office has conducted a detailed audit of the transactions and procurements made by KEONICS during 2019-2023, and 10-15 percent of the findings have established the irregularities with inflated bills up to 400 percent being paid to the vendors. I have spoken with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in this regard, and following a separate audit, we will hand over the case to the Justice Nagamohan Das panel,” Priyank told a press conference at Vidhana Soudha.
“Not even a single order has been passed after I became a minister with regard to the procurement of the items that the BJP did not have,” he said, refuting allegations of bribery against him in exchange for clearing the bills in KEONICS by the BJP. “They (BJP) did not know while digging a ‘khedda’ (for him), they have been falling into their own trap. The BJP IT cell is useless as it spreads falsehood on social media, without doing any homework and their MLAs and ex-ministers just follow,” he claimed.
While listing out the AG’s audit findings, Priyank claimed that in a few instances, third-party evaluation has been fraudulent with the signatures of the concerned being fudged to claim bills to the tune of Rs 9.3 crore, adding that Rs 4.43 crore has been claimed by some vendors without even supplying the goods. Procurement of goods at a higher rate, without analyzing the market rate, resulted in Rs 47.76 crore loss to the exchequer and it is in this regard that the audit had conducted a physical inspection of the items in selected districts, he said. To set up computer lab in schools, Rs 24.15 lakh has been paid, as against a market rate of Rs 5 lakh, and it is 474 percent higher, he stated.