KOCHI: The Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd (FACT) suffered an estimated loss of `1.31 crore in the controversial gypsum deal, the CBI probe into the graft has revealed.The revelation comes just a few days after the CBI indicted former managing director of FACT Jaiveer Srivastava, chief general manager (CGM) Srinath Kammath, CGM Ambika I S, CGM Panchan Poddar, deputy general manager Daniel Madhukar, NSS Trade India Pvt Ltd, its MD Santhosh Shetty and Nagarjuna Chemicals Pvt Ltd MD Mukund Maheswari.
The CBI officers said around 35 lakh tonne of gypsum – a by-product produced while manufacturing phosphoric acid which is used for making cement, Plaster of Paris, glass fiber, reinforced load-bearing wall panels and for soil conditioning – are stocked in FACT Cochin division. FACT disposes of gypsum in bulk and bag forms. While bag gypsum is sold to farmers via an authorised agency and its price is fixed by a committee, bulk gypsum is sold on a slab price varying from `175-`600/tonne.
In 2015, said CBI officers, the accused hatched a conspiracy to dispose of gypsum for a cheap price. “Daniel Madhukar initiated the proposal to sell 3.5 lakh tonnes of old hard gypsum dumped in FACT Cochin division. The other officials were instrumental in fixing the Ernest Money Deposit (EMD) at `25 lakh, thereby avoiding a competitive rate to favour Santhosh Shetty with the consent of Jaiveer Srivastava,” the chargesheet filed in the CBI Court said.
The tender was awarded for `130 per tonne of gypsum while it was valued at `296/tonne as on March 31, 2015. NSS Trade India received the tender in November 2015 for three years. Due to the deal, FACT suffered a loss of `1.31 crore.“FACT raised invoices at different prices of `130/tonne to `300/tonne based on NSS Trade India’s demand even though the price fixed was only `130/tonne. From December 2015 to August 2016, a little over `1 crore was credited to NSS. This was reflected only in ledger accounts,” said the chargesheet.
FACT also knew that there were proxy bidders of NSS Trade India taking part in the tendering process. However, it took no action to blacklist the firm. Nagarjuna Chemicals Private Ltd and Kia Biotech were among the firms which took part in the tendering. However, their officer addresses were the same.
Nagarjuna Chemicals also tried to smuggle gypsum in 50kg bags out of the FACT compound. The bags carried the name ‘Nagarjuna Gypsum’ and each bag was priced at `300, the chargesheet said.The CBI probe said no committee was appointed to monitor the tendering procedures. Similarly, environmental issues were raised to dispose of gypsum at a cheap price. When some of the officials objected, they were transferred.