Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Recoveries see meteoric rise

Recoveries see meteoric rise

The economy is slow, but our government servants seem to be still making huge sums of money; obviously through improper channels.
Statistics provided by the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has revealed that the money involved in the disproportionate assets cases has jumped by more than Rs121 crore compared to the last year. And, almost all the culprits are government servants.
In 2011, 10 cases of disproportionate assets cases involving Rs1.97 crore were registered with the ACB. But until June this year, 16 cases were registered with the ACB involving more than Rs123crore. Suspended deputy collector Nitesh Thakur, who was arrested in March, alone had disproportionate assets worth over Rs118 crore.
Another shocking revelation is that in the last two years, most cases were registered against government servants from the municipal corporation, public health department and police department.
While last year, disproportionate assets cases were also registered against officials from zilla parishad, sales tax, education departments and panchayat samiti, this year, officials from the revenue, agriculture, forest, irrigation, public works departments and Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company were also found guilty.
“During investigation, we look into the properties owned by government officials, including the benami properties. These properties could be movable or immovable, such as flats, land, vehicles and jewellery, and the cost of such properties goes to crores of rupees,” said an ACB officer.
“In such cases, we generally do not arrest the person, but only conduct raids. If the person is not able to provide details of his assets and sources of income then after the investigation we summon him directly to court."
This year, the maximum cases were registered against the municipal corporation officials — 4. But the maximum ill-gotten money was recovered from the revenue department — more than Rs118 crore from three cases.
Last year, the maximum money recovered was from two cases registered against civic officials involving more than Rs63 lakh.

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