CHENNAI: The DVAC probe into the misappropriation of funds through tender bidding in the Coimbatore Corporation has brought to the fore startling revelations. While checking the Standard Internet Protocol (IP-IV) used by persons and companies under suspicion, the sleuths have found that all the accused persons and representatives of the companies submitted their bids using the same computer and that too one after the other, indicating collusion.
SP Anbarasan's firm Senthil & Co and one Rajan Rathinasamy were registered contractors of the Coimbatore Municipal Corporation. The DVAC said that both parties had bid for 47 tenders among themselves during 2014 to 2017. The malpractice came to light when the DVAC found that both the contractors were registered under the same mobile number, and all their bids were submitted from the same computer.
Further, KCP Engineers Pvt Ltd and its director K Chandraprakash submitted separate bids for five tenders in the Coimbatore Corporation during 2014-15. With the company and company's director submitting separate bids and competing against each other, they managed to win the contract in violation of rules.
Same year, the company was also involved in another malpractice. When the Corporation floated 14 tenders worth Rs 5.86 crore, KCP Engineers Pvt Ltd and J Robert Raja were the only parties to submit bids, said the DVAC. The KCP Engineers Pvt Ltd won all 14 tenders. The malpractice came to light when the DVAC found that J Robert Raja owned shares of KCP Engineers Pvt Ltd. Interestingly, money for all the tender bids were sent from K Chandraprakash's mother Sundari's bank account.
The investigation agency also found that KCP Engineers Pvt Ltd used SP Builders, a proprietorship owned by R Murugesan, as a shell bidder for all the 131 tenders floated by the Coimbatore Corporation. SP Builders lost 130 of the tenders. "This is only the tip of the iceberg. Many other instances of violation of Rule 31 of the Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders Rules, 2012, have also been found," DVAC sources said.