Government tells banks, PSUs to take timely decision on graft cases Posted on: 20 Jul 2012, 04:47 PM in The Hindu Business Line
New Delhi: With increase in instances of delay in deciding on sanction of prosecution cases involving corrupt officials, the Centre on Friday asked all its ministries, especially banks and public sector undertakings, to "strictly" follow the time limit of three months.
The move came following a review meeting by the Secretary of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on pending cases of sanction of prosecution in which various discrepancies, in violation of its existing directives, were noted on part of various government departments.
In a significant number of cases pertaining to banks and PSUs, it was noted that the disciplinary authorities first decline the sanction and thereafter seek advice of Central Vigilance Commission, an apex body for vigilance matters, which is a clear violation of laid down norms.
It is stipulated that the competent authority shall take a tentative view regarding the action to be taken and then seek advice of CVC in the matter and after getting the Commission's view, the concerned Ministry or Department shall finalise its views.
In an official memorandum sent to all departments, the DoPT said, "It is reiterated that before passing orders on requests for sanction for prosecution, the instructions issued by this Department are strictly adhered to."
A disciplinary authority has to take a decision on granting sanction to prosecute a public servant accused of corruption within three-month time. However, additional time of one month may be allowed where consultation is required with the Attorney General or any other law officer in the AG's office.
It was also noticed that various Ministries do not adhere to the stipulated time limit. "It is imperative that the stipulated time limit must be strictly adhered to," the directive said.
The move came following a review meeting by the Secretary of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on pending cases of sanction of prosecution in which various discrepancies, in violation of its existing directives, were noted on part of various government departments.
In a significant number of cases pertaining to banks and PSUs, it was noted that the disciplinary authorities first decline the sanction and thereafter seek advice of Central Vigilance Commission, an apex body for vigilance matters, which is a clear violation of laid down norms.
It is stipulated that the competent authority shall take a tentative view regarding the action to be taken and then seek advice of CVC in the matter and after getting the Commission's view, the concerned Ministry or Department shall finalise its views.
In an official memorandum sent to all departments, the DoPT said, "It is reiterated that before passing orders on requests for sanction for prosecution, the instructions issued by this Department are strictly adhered to."
A disciplinary authority has to take a decision on granting sanction to prosecute a public servant accused of corruption within three-month time. However, additional time of one month may be allowed where consultation is required with the Attorney General or any other law officer in the AG's office.
It was also noticed that various Ministries do not adhere to the stipulated time limit. "It is imperative that the stipulated time limit must be strictly adhered to," the directive said.
http://post.jagran.com/government-tells-banks-psus-to-take-timely-decision-on-graft-cases-1342783008
Rs 100 crore offered to secure Gali Janardhana Reddy's bail: Arrested AP judge Posted on: 20 Jul 2012, 11:18 PM
Hyderabad: In a stunning claim, an Andhra Pradesh lower court judge arrested in the cash-for-bail scam, has said that a whopping Rs 100 crore was offered by relatives of former Karnataka minister and mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy to secure bail for him.
In a confessional statement to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), K Lakshmi Narasimha Rao, Chief Judge of Small Causes Court, said Dasaradharami Reddy, a relative of Gali Janardhana Reddy, had made the offer, the agency said.
The judge, now suspended, is in judicial custody after being in ACB custody for some days.
According to a remand application filed by the ACB, Narasimha Rao had voluntarily spoken about the bribe for getting the bail for the powerful politician.
"He (Dasaradharami Reddy) had asked to search for a channel to influence the CBI judge for Reddy's release on bail and for which Dasaradharami Reddy was ready to pay even Rs 100 crore," it said.
ACB arrested Narasimha Rao on July 12. According to ACB, Pattabhirama Rao, the CBI Court Judge, granted bail to the former Karnataka minister, arrested in illegal mining case last month after taking a bribe.
Reddy's bail was later cancelled by the High Court. ACB has arrested Pattabhirama Rao, and also family court judge Prabhakar Rao.
"On hearing the said figure of amount, he (Lakshmi Narasimha Rao) was shocked and allured. He planned to convince Naga Maruti Sharma, the CBI Judge who was dealing with Gali Janardhana Reddy's case at the time," as per ACB.
He called Sharma on April 18 to his residence and tried to persuade him. But Naga Sharma declined, the ACB application said.
http://post.jagran.com/Rs-100-crore-offered-to-secure-Gali-Janardhana-Reddys-bail-Arrested-AP-judge-1342806488
CBI files charges in bribes-for-loans case
NEW DELHI |
(Reuters) - The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed charges against executives at several financial services firms, including Life Insurance Corporation of India and Punjab National Bank, in a bribes-for-loans case, police said on Tuesday.
The CBI filed charges of accepting bribes against the then-secretary of top state-run insurer Life Insurance Corp (LIC), then-chief executive of LIC Housing Finance, a former general manager of Bank of India and a former deputy general manager of Punjab National Bank.
All those charged were arrested last year and were later granted bail.
The bribes-for-loans scandal shook the nation last November when police started probing 21 sizeable companies, hitting lending and infrastructure shares and tarnishing the country's image as an investment destination.
The CBI had said the executives at some companies had received bribes from Money Matters Financial Services, a firm cited as the mediator on the deals resulting in heavy loans to the booming infrastructure sector -- builders of dams, power plants, energy equipment makers and property developers.
Police also filed charges against the chairman of a Mumbai-based private sector firm for paying bribe, but did not identify the company .
A series of alleged scams, including a massive telecoms licensing scam that may have cost the state up to $39 billion in lost revenue have rocked the government and businesses in Asia's third-largest economy.
India was ranked 87th in Transparency International's 2010 ranking of nations based on the perceived level of corruption. India lies behind rival China, which is in 78th place.
The police statement on Tuesday did not name the executives charged, but said the charges were related to cases they registered in November last year
RBI joins bribes-for-loans scam probe
Bribe-for-loan scam: Time for more transparency
| Government does not let CBI prosecute corrupt babus |
Action was pending against 157 bureaucrats until June 2011 for want of sanction.
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New Delhi | 17th Jun
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Until mid June 2011, action against over 157 corrupt bureaucrats was pending because of want of sanction. Between 2007 and January 2011, the CBI booked 108 bureaucrats for corruption, including 19 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, six Indian Police Service (IPS) officers and 35 Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officers. The figure for 2010 was 42 bureaucrats. In 2008, the number of officers booked was 16.
A former IPS officer who retired as director general of police (DGP), Madhya Pradesh feels that unless the bottleneck is removed, corruption amongst top officials will go on unabated. "The CBI needs prior permission from the Centre to lodge even an FIR against officials above the level of joint secretary. After the probe, the CBI has to seek sanction to prosecute the officers from the Central government."
The CBI, however, is not complaining. An official with the agency said that the government was taking steps to tackle corruption: "The setting up of 71 additional special courts exclusively for the trial of CBI cases in different states has been approved. The appointment of 43 special prosecutors and assistant special prosecutors and 45 technical experts have also been done," he said.
Corruption among bureaucrats can be gauged from the case of the IAS couple from Madhya Pradesh cadre, Arvind and Tinu Joshi. An investigation into their income revealed that they owned assets worth Rs 350 cr, disproportionate to their known sources of income. The Income Tax Department later served them notices for tax dues of Rs 45 cr. "The Joshis were obviously close to their political masters. That's why they continued to flourish," the officer added. Tinu Joshi was a deputy secretary in the Prime Minister's Office from 1988 to 1990, while Arvind Joshi was a joint secretary in the Ministry of Defence in 1999 during the Kargil conflict.
Retired IPS officer and former CBI director Joginder Singh said, "The laws are such that the babus fear no one. They know that they can get away with anything. The accountability of the bureaucrat should be fixed."
According to Transparency International's (TI) 2011 annual corruption perception index, India is ranked 95 among the 183 countries where TI measured corruption. Transparency International vice chairman (India) S.K. Agarwal said, "The fight against corruption is long and full of harassing legal process. Unless there is some kind of deterrent and exemplary punishment, babus will continue to be prone to corruption."
The state of affairs at the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), the apex body to address government corruption, is bad. In 2009, the CVC received 5,783 complaints of corruption in 330 government institutions. However, it acted against only 2,429 officials. The nature of the action taken was generally mild. Serious penalties such as dismissal and compulsory retirement from service were taken only in select cases.
In the same year, not one corrupt officer out of 331 in the Ministry of Finance was punished. In the Central Board of Direct Taxes and the Central Board of Excise and Customs, 422 corrupt babus were let off.
The CVC in its annual report of 2010 stated that 222 government organisations and departments were sitting on its advice for over six months to act against 2,346 corrupt officials. Indian Railways was the worst offender. Despite the CVC recommending action against 320 Railway officers, none was taken.
Joginder Singh said, "It is clear that the government does not want to take action against the erring officials. They are not investing resources in recruiting prosecutors, special courts, which will go a long way in curbing corruption."
The Department of Personnel and Training, in response to an RTI last year, revealed a list of 13 corrupt babus. Among these, three are from Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre. Two each are from Punjab and Orissa.
The officers include Karan Bir Singh Sidhu (Punjab), R.K. Shrivastava (AGMUT), Kavaddi Narsimha (AGMUT), J.S.L. Vasava (Assam-Manipur), R.S. Shrivastava (Rajasthan), L.V. Subramaniam (Andhra Pradesh), Mandeep Singh (Punjab), Sanjeev Kumar (Haryana), Subhash Chand Ahluwalia (Himachal Pradesh), Rakesh Mohan (AGMUT), Prafulla Chandra Mishra (Orissa), Sudhir Prasad (Jharkhand) and Vinod Kumar (Orissa). Shrivastava has eight different cases against him and Vinod Kumar six.
CBI does not have adequate manpower and time to pursue cases
against members and well wishers of Congress party or political party directly
or indirectly supporting UPA government. But CBI has big workforce to pursue
the cases against the government of states like Jharkhand, Gujarat, and
Karnataka like state where BJP or NDA is in the government.
Out of five cases of fraud or bad assets or over payment to
suppliers and contractors ,banks report hardly one case to CBI, still none of
top ranked bank officers is punished. It is known to that entire big value loan
proposals are sanctioned only when top ranked officers agree or suggest it and
similarly high value write off or compromise takes place only when top ranked
officers sanction the same and hint branch level officials to opt for write off
instead of accelerating recovery steps.
Since all proposal of sanction or that of write off
originates from branches only, it is junior or middle management officers who
are more often than not taken to task and executives in scale IV and above who
are real instrumental in all corrupt dealings are acquitted and promoted to
higher level despite their involvement in bribe based lending and bribe based
write off or compromise. If past of top executives is scanned by any agency, I
think fifty percent of executives will be found on wrong footings.
Similarly internal vigilance department or CVC never dare
taking punitive action against top ranked officials who play key roles in rise
of NPA and who gives oral instruction to write off big value defaulted loans.
Even cases of corruption informed to CBI or CVC are not pursued and in some
cases government do not sanction of proceedings against such high profile officials.
If any unbiased agency is entrusted duty of investigating
reasons behind sanction of loans above Rs.10.00 crores at least when the
account goes bad, the emerging result will reveal that it is always the top
ranked officials who piloted the sanction.
In brief most of the executive who are holding key posts are
behind rise in bad assets and this is why staff accountability is not fixed in
such cases as long as they are in service and finally the chapter is closed.
When big value loan account goes bad the bank management
will say global recession is the reason behind such default but when default is
in lacs occurs they will punish junior officers without any delay to exhibit
that they are actively pursuing cases of corruption.
Such dual and fraudulent role must be checked to safeguard
banks .As soon as actions against top officials are initiated and in punishment
is awarded in shortest possible timeframe , the bottom-line officers will
automatically mend them and resist from corrupt practices.
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