The CBI has arrested an IAS officer in the Haryana government funds scam. Investigators say the alleged fraud used fake fixed deposits and shell entities to siphon off public money.
The CBI has arrested a senior IAS officer and two former bank officers in connection with the alleged embezzlement of Rs 504 crore from Haryana government accounts maintained in IDFC First Bank in Chandigarh, officials said on Tuesday.
The agency said the alleged actions of IAS officer Pardeep Kumar, who was posted as Member Secretary of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board, led to the misappropriation of funds and caused a net loss of about Rs 169 crore to the government.
Earlier, the agency had arrested former IDFC First Bank area head Shamim Dar and former AU Small Finance Bank branch manager Charanjeet Singh Randhawa in the case. The CBI has alleged that funds of eight Haryana government departments were siphoned off through forged and non-existent fixed deposits, debit notes and shell entities.
In a statement, the CBI said, “The investigation has revealed that the actions of Pardeep Kumar, as Member Secretary, had a direct nexus with the fraud. He himself handled the entire investment-related work at his level. Funds for fixed deposits were sent to IDFC First Bank far in excess of the prescribed limits.”
It said that for creating the fixed deposits, HSPCB funds were first transferred to an account opened at IDFC First Bank’s Sector 32 branch in Chandigarh.
The agency said the department could produce no record relating to the opening of this account. “The conspiracy was so deep that the account got opened without any approvals and funds were transferred into the account in the name of creating fixed deposits. The investigation conducted so far has revealed that no fixed deposits were created in this bank,” the statement said.
Instead, it alleged, fraudulent debit transactions were made from the account, resulting in the misappropriation of government funds and causing a net loss of around Rs 169 crore to the state government. The CBI said this was the single largest financial loss suffered by any of the affected Haryana government departments in the overall Rs 504 crore scam.
The agency said Kumar was not joining the investigation despite repeated efforts and was arrested after the CBI traced his whereabouts. On the two former bank officers, the CBI said they siphoned off money through irregular investment of surplus funds in fixed deposits and through fraudulent transactions routed through bank accounts opened for this purpose.
“Investigation revealed that both accused, in their respective capacities as bank officials, played incriminating roles in facilitating the opening of bank accounts and in facilitating fraudulent transactions through which public funds were diverted,” a spokesperson said.
