VISAKHAPATNAM: The sleuths of Visakhapatnam district Intelligence & Enforcement department have recently submitted a probe report to the government on the Rs 5 crore sub-treasury office pension scam of the Seethammadhaara STO office.
According to sources, the I&E officials found that around 25 employees of the Treasury Department were responsible for the entire ‘pension scam’ in which two deputy directors (DDs) along with several ATOs, STOs, senior accountants and clerks were involved.
So far, the government suspended seven Treasury employees -two assistant directors, two STOs and three senior accountants. Very soon the government will take suitable action on the remaining culprits as per the vigilance inquiry report.
After the scam came to light in October 2017, the vigilance officials conducted searches in several phases at the Seethammadhaara STO as part of the internal audit. Since 2011, the misuse of pension funds took place here and up to 2015, no one bothered about it.
Even the district higher authorities did not focus on the wrong entries and fake ids at any stage of swindling of funds by the staff. After an internal inquiry in 2015, one clerk was made responsible for all the fraudulent withdrawals of the pension money of about Rs 1.5 crore in 3 to 4 years and the accused was suspended and criminal cases were booked as per the internal audit report.
Surprisingly, the district collector grievances section identified one suspicious pensioner and after probe they found him to be a fake pensioner. Then on the complaint of the district deputy director (DD) of Treasury Department, the internal audit parties started checks at the Seethammadhara STO.
They found several fraudulent withdrawals and 1,500 pension pay orders (PPOs) missing in the STO. The officials started scrutinising each and every paper which lead them to another `3.5 crore illegal withdrawals in the name of pensioners. The culprits even used some dead pensioners’ ids to withdraw amounts for years together.
As the fraudulent activities were reported in the media, the State government ordered the suspension of one assistant director (AD), two sub-treasury officers (STOs) and three senior accountants for alleged involvement in the unauthorised withdrawals from the Seethammadhara STO. Later the government ordered a thorough inquiry into the entire scam by the V&E department under the supervision of SP D Koteswara Rao in cooperation with the State Audit department officials.
In the Seethammadhara STO limits, nearly 16,000 out of the total 40,000 take pension every month. Sleuths of I & E, SAD started verifying all the withdrawals of pensioners along with thorough checks to trace the missing 1,000 more PPOs. They verified around 2,000 pension accounts out of the total 16,000 and estimated the total fraud to the tune of about Rs 5 crore. The probe team also identified that culprits withdrew around `1 crore from the pension accounts of eight dead persons as they produced fake life certificates and managed to withdraw the money.
“In fact, the fraudulent withdrawals might be of Rs 7- 8 crore and no doubt all the treasury employees involved in the fraudulent scam will face the consequences very soon. But all the other employees of the Treasury Department were a disturbed lot. It is a big jolt for all of us and it will take some time to digest this bitter truth,” one DD of the Treasury Department explained.
Probe report names 25 officials
According to sources, the I & E officials found that around 25 employees of the Treasury Department were responsible for the pension scam.