The CBI has arrested an officer of the Indian Defence Accounts Service in a case of alleged bribery of Rs 10 lakh. The agency has seized huge cash during searches conducted after the arrest of an Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS) officer.
The agency has recovered Rs 40 lakh in cash after conducting raids in nine locations.
According to the senior officials from the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the officer was attached to the Army’s South Western Command in Jaipur. He was posted in the Command as the Integrated Financial Advisor (IFA).
It is alleged that a company based in Jind in Haryana had transferred the money to a middleman seeking favours from the 1988-batch officer.
The CBI conducted the operation based on the information that a payment of Rs 10 lakh was made to a suspected middleman for seeking favours from the officer.
It was alleged that the accused of 3 private firms entered conspiracy and were obtaining all works related to outsourcing of conservancy services for various locations in South Western Command and for extending undue favour in award of the said works bypassing the provisions.
It was further alleged that the officials of Integrated Financial Advisor (IFA) in connivance with Accounts Officer, Junior Translator, PCDA, South Western Command as well as a private person of a Jaipur based company (who was acting as the middlemen for the public servants), were demanding & obtaining illegal gratification from the private contractors.
Reports point out other three private persons — Sunil Kumar of Jind-based Hitech Security Services Private Limited, Prabjinder Singh Brar of Ganganagar-based ESS PEE Traders and Dinesh Kumar Jindal of Bhatinda-based D K Enterprises — were found to be involved and arrested on bribery charges.
“Searches were conducted at nine different places, including Jaipur, Jind, Bathinda and Ganganagar, which led to the recovery of cash of Rs 40 lakh (approx.), various property documents relating to public servants and incriminating documents,” the probe agency said.
The Indian Defence Accounts provides financial payment and accounting and internal audit functions of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Ordnance Factories, Border Road Organisation, Defence Research and Canteen Stores Department. It is headed by the Controller General of Defence Accounts.
The incident highlights the rising case of corruption in defence as in another case, CBI filed an FIR against the former Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). BEL is the leading defence and aerospace public sector undertaking.
According to a top official from the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the government has adopted a zero-tolerance policy in such cases of corruption and bribery.
