Accused reveal Haryana officials’ role in Rs 590 crore IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank scam: CBI
Over 200 high-value and illegal transactions have been found. Accused identify signatures of officials who signed cheques and debit notes, says CBI
In the Rs 590 crore IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank scam, in which more than 200 “illegal transactions” have been found, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the CBI Special Court on Monday that the accused have revealed the involvement of Haryana government officials -- from the opening of bank accounts to their failure to take any action on various fake payments made from state government accounts to shell companies.
The accused have also identified the signatures of the government officials who had signed the cheques and debit notes, the CBI said.
The investigation agency further told the CBI judge that it came out that in the case of one of the Haryana government departments, “no noting or approval was taken by the officials for opening of bank account” in the IDFC First bank and in another instance, “funds were deposited in the bank account without approval of the competent authority.”
On the lapses by Haryana government departments, the CBI said: “Due diligence was not conducted for processing information, making transactions, verifying the genuineness of documents prepared and provided by the banks (forged FDs)."
It pointed out that Haryana Finance Department's prevailing instructions were violated “regarding empanelment of banks for conducting government business” in the state.
It is pertinent to mention that the Haryana government has so far suspended two IAS officers, RK Singh and Pardeep Kumar, and transferred four more IAS officers following the scam involving 12 accounts across eight departments.
The “role and involvement of public servants, bank officials and other persons is yet to be ascertained, and the trail of misappropriation of government funds is yet to be traced," added the CBI.
As per the Haryana government, the departments that suffered in the scam included Haryana State Pollution Control Board-Rs 222.03 crore, Municipal Corporation (MC), Panchkula-Rs 81.03 crore, Haryana Labour Welfare Board- Rs 54.29 crore, Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited-Rs 54.20 crore, Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad-Rs 54.05 crore, Haryana Rural Development Fund Administration Board-Rs 49.84 crore, Municipal Council, Kalka-Rs 30.64 crore, and Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board-Rs 10.07 crore. A total of Rs 556.15 crore was involved.
For sending five accused, Abhay Kumar, Swati Singla, Abhishek Singla, Naresh Kumar and Manish Jindal, to judicial custody, the CBI on Monday reasoned before the CBI court that many important facts with respect to “more than 200 high-value and illegal transactions have been found” and that the accused “are aware of these discoveries” and could influence witnesses or destroy evidence.
After hearing the arguments, the CBI Special Judge Rajeev Goyal sent the five accused to judicial custody.
Earlier, the CBI had told the court that Swati Singla and her brother Abhishek Singla had received Rs 292 crore from funds from Haryana government departments’ accounts, parked with IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank. The Singla siblings were proprietors of the Swastik Desh Project firm, which received the amount. The money was further sent to various entities and individuals.
The CBI had registered the FIR on April 8, based on the original FIR lodged by the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SV&ACB) on February 23. According to the FIR, the case involves offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, along with charges of cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy, fraudulent or dishonest use of forged documents, and criminal breach of trust under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
The accused have so far revealed about the opening of shell companies, opening of bank accounts of Haryana government departments without following due process, submission of debit notes and signed cheques of various departments to the bank, transfer of money from government accounts to shell companies, and purchase of movable and immovable properties, according to the CBI.
On the alleged mastermind of the scam, Ribhav Rishi, the CBI sought his further three-day remand to examine his WhatsApp chats and other digital data, and to inquire about entities to whom money siphoned off from the government accounts was transferred, and people to whom he paid in cash and kind at various times.
The CBI court allowed his custody for two more days.
