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Srinagar, Oct 17 (IANS) The zonal office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar on Friday said it has filed a prosecution complaint in the court in connection with a payment fraud of Rs 3.54 crore in the Public Health Engineering Department.
A press statement from the ED’s Srinagar zonal office said, “The ED Srinagar zonal office has filed a prosecution complaint before the special PMLA court in the city against Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, the then chief engineer of the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED), Jammu and Kashmir, and four others – Rajneesh Bal, Mohammad Amin Wani, Nisar Ahmed Bhat and Imran Baba, partner in M/s Baba Enterprises, money laundering. Under the provisions of the Prevention of Prevention Act (PMLA), 2002.”
The statement said the special PMLA court has issued pre-cognizance notices to all the accused persons in connection with the fraud case.
The statement said the ED initiated the investigation on the basis of an FIR lodged by the Anti-Corruption Bureau in Srinagar against Ghulam Mohammad Bhat and four others on charges of misuse of government funds.
“The ED investigation revealed that the accused officials of PHED, in criminal conspiracy with M/s Baba Enterprises, misappropriated government funds during procurement of spare parts for water filtration plants, causing wrongful loss to the public exchequer. The ED investigation revealed that Ghulam Mohammed Bhat and other members of the departmental purchase committee, in connivance with Imran Baba, a partner of M/s Baba Enterprises Gave tender. The ED statement said that M/s Baba Enterprises was given undue advantage by awarding the tender without following due procedure and by the departmental purchase committee, i.e., no separate tender was issued for additional purchase of spare parts worth Rs 2,30,78,597 and security deposit (two per cent of the tender value) was not taken from the contractor.
“Instead, the earnest money of Rs 1 lakh was converted into security deposit. In the second order, the security deposit (two per cent of the value of the second supply order) was again not taken.”
“The total security deposit amount to be taken was Rs 7 lakh, however, only Rs 1 lakh was taken as security deposit. Further, in the allotment order, the supply/delivery period of material was revised from 30 days to 90 days etc. from the date of issue of supply order,” the statement said.
“The ED investigation further revealed that M/s Baba Enterprises received Rs 3.54 crore from PHED and paid only Rs 1.55 crore to the original supplier i.e. M/s Industrial Devices (India) Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, and used the remaining Rs 1.56 crore for acquisition of immovable properties in Srinagar, such as 18 marla land at Barinambal and at Hyderpora. 27.5 marla land. “Srinagar, and the ED has seized these immovable properties worth Rs 1.56 crore,” the statement said.
During the peak years of terrorist violence in Jammu and Kashmir, the rule of law and accountability in public service became the first casualty.
As the rule of law has been re-established and accountability has been fixed for the frauds committed during the days of terrorist violence, many of the frauds and scams committed during that period are now coming to light.
–IANS
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