The Congress party on Friday urged the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to hand over the investigation of chit fund scam in the State to Serious Fraud Investigating Organisation (SFIO) stating that neither the Crime Branch nor the State Police can handle the cases given the deep involvement of the ruling party members in the financial fraud.
Such was the patronisation of the chit fund companies by the BJD that Artha Tatwa (AT) Group head Pradip Sethi had purchased the official car of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in an auction, the Congress alleged here on Friday. Sethi used the car and told people that he was close to the BJD and lured gullible public into invest in his company, a memorandum submitted to the Union Ministry by a team of senior Congress leaders, including former chief minister Giridhar Gamang and former speaker Sarat Kar, said.
The Congress said the recent Cabinet decision to repeal the Odisha State Selfhelp Cooperative Act, 2001 also facilitated such large scale duping by the money circulation companies. Since the Cabinet is headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik himself, he should be deemed as the main perpetrator of the crime, the Congress leaders said and urged that SFIO must take over the probe.
The memorandum alleged that Sethi has already admitted to be close to several ministers and MLAs of the ruling party and alleged a pay-off amounting to Rs 75 crore and accused the ruling party members of having unholy nexus with several chit fund companies and helping them loot the public.
The Congress leaders said the companies involved in the scam are in operation in several States and neither the CB nor the State Police has the jurisdiction to probe beyond Odisha which is why SFIO must be directed to take charge of the investigation.
