32 persons involved in civil supplies scam: JC Ronanki Kurmanath

Nellore: Joint Collector Ronanki Kurmanath said that Rs 40 crore misappropriated in the civil supplies corporation and over 32 persons involved in the scam. Addressing media at the Collectorate on Thursday, Kurmanath said he had submitted his inquiry report to the senior officials of the corporation and District Collector for further action.

He said district managers were also involved in the scam for the past 5 years and they also found postdated cheques worth Rs 14.5 crore in the form of bank guarantees and the transactions were also routed through a single account where there were more than 30 accounts giving scope for suspicions.

The Joint Collector said they have initially verified only accounts of the current fiscal year from April 1 to September 30 and again checked from 2017 for more details based on the need. Internal audit teams also found variations and they found a fraudulent IT challan in the records which raised doubts about activities.

When they checked with the officials, there was no proper reply, so they started the investigation of financial transactions, he said. The diversion of funds was also observed in the transactions.

He explained that they earlier suspected the role of 11 persons and booked cases against them and the number now increased to 32. They recommended a thorough probe by agencies for a detailed investigation of the quantum of funds misused and who were involved in the scam.