G V L Narasimha Rao wants CBI probe into misuse of PD accounts

Hyderabad: Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP G V L Narasimha Rao on Saturday demanded that Governor ESL Narasimhan should take action against Andhra Pradesh government in the alleged Personal Deposit (PD) accounts scam.

In a letter to the Governor, the BJP leader said that the PD scam involving Rs 53,039 crore of public money was unearthed by the CAG recently. He said that the CAG report on State Finances for the year 2016-17 revealed that there were a staggering 58,539 PD accounts and Rs 53,038 crore was deposited in them and Rs 51,448 crore was paid from these accounts to third parties.

The CAG report further said the CAG audit could not vouch for the payments made from the PD accounts as the list of beneficiaries/third parties to whom the payments were made was not given to the audit by the finance department. Rao alleged that the AP government was blocking disclosure and scrutiny of Rs 51,448 crore of payments as it is scared that the ‘real beneficiaries’ of the financial scandal would be exposed once the complete audit is done and investigations are ordered into the payments made from these accounts.

Saying that the PD scam of Andhra Pradesh is far bigger than ‘Fodder scam in Bihar,” the BJP leader said that State government has not been unwilling to lend itself for a proper inspection investigation and trying to get away by making silly and usual claims of innocence that most tainted governments make. He urged the Governor to direct a special CAG audit and a CBI investigation into the whole episode.