BENGALURU: In a major political development, the Congress government on Thursday indicated its reported plan to prosecute BJP leaders former chief minister BS Yediyurappa and former health minister B Sriramulu for their involvement in the alleged Covid scam in 2020.
The cabinet resolved to set up a police Special Investigation Team (SIT) with three officers headed by an IGP to further probe the alleged scam based on Justice John Michael D’Cunha Commission’s report on the alleged misappropriation of funds during the pandemic, which mainly included import of 3 lakh PPE kits at inflated prices from China.
Recently, a leaked report of the commission reportedly recommended prosecution of Yediyurappa and Sriramulu. But in their reply, Yediyurappa and Sriramulu stated that they are ready to face any consequences, claiming that they did not commit any mistakes, but had saved many lives during the pandemic.
The government appointed the commission to probe the alleged corruption during the pandemic. A cabinet sub-committee headed by DCM DK Shivakumar examined the commission’s report and presented its views before the cabinet.
‘Nexus between netas in power & officials’
Disbanding the audit of deaths during Covid 19 by the previous government, concealing truth and ensuring that files of misdeeds go missing prompted the Congress government to set up the SIT, HK Patil said. He said the CM will initiate steps to set up the SIT in three days to take further action. He claimed that the PAC headed by him had discovered the nexus between the politicians in power and officials, resulting in corruption.
Instances of hampering the functioning of the then PAC to cover up corruption happened, he alleged.He said when PPE kits were available for Rs 330 to Rs 400 per unit domestically, three lakh of them were bought for Rs 2,117 per unit from China. “Kits were also purchased at Rs 2,117.53 and Rs 2,104 and also at Rs 2,049 per unit from different companies,” he alleged.The interim report has a mention of payment of Rs 6.93 crore to private labs by flouting norms, Rs 4.48 crore to eight labs that were not accredited by ICMR in violation of the Centre’s guidelines, and labs being paid in arrears without entering into an agreement, he said.
The commission had issued a notice to the chief secretary to take action against the officials involved in the alleged corruption. “Even Rs 7.03 crore meant for campaigning was misused, Chukki Talkies, an agency, was paid Rs 8.85 lakh illegally. The health department had no records for payment of Rs 5 crore to various agencies,” he said.