The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials, who are investigating the case of Insurance Medical Service (IMS) irregularities in purchasing medicine indents, are suspecting that the accused, including IMS officers, might have diverted funds worth of Rs 500 crore to benamis and private pharma companies.
Following the arrest of Cherukuri Nagaraju, marketing manager of Omni Medi for his alleged role in the scam, the agency officials have arrested 22 including former IMS officers for colluding with the private persons and pharma company managements.
The investigators are understood to have collected details of fake bills of medicine indents that made transactions between the officers and pharma company managements allegedly worth of `500 crore. “Some pharma company managements including the accused No 1 K Srihari Babu alias Babji, owner of Omni Medi allegedly offered gifts, commission and other valuables to IMS officials. He also diverted funds by submitting fake bills for medicine indents. The former director of IMS Devika Rani and other officers directly and indirectly have accepted huge commissions,” the ACB officials said.
During the probe, the ACB officials found that the accused Bhupal Reddy and R Nagender Reddy, who were arrested few days ago, have colluded with the another accused P Rajeswar Reddy and Srinivas Reddy of Teja Pharma. They have been setting up as many as 25 shell companies under several names by diverting the IMS funds in crore of rupees.