The government will take stringent action to ensure that the aid from the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF) does not go to the wrong hands, while at the same time make sure that none of the real beneficiaries are denied assistance, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
The government is very particular that there should be no anomalies in the distribution of CMDRF assistance, which is why the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has been asked to conduct an inquiry into the funds disbursement as soon as complaints were raised about the relief being claimed by ineligible persons, he added. The government will be totally unforgiving towards those who tried to misappropriate the assistance and those who actively connived to swindle money, he added.
Process and fraud
It was on Wednesday that details about the widespread corruption in the disbursement of CMDRF funds, unearthed by the VACB, began to emerge. CMDRF assistance is reserved for providing care to acute medical emergencies faced by the poor and for giving relief to people who are in distress as a result of natural calamities or similar displacement. It is through the local bodies that deserving applicants are selected and funds disbursed, after checking the veracity of their documents. The VACB found that corrupt officials in the section handling CMDRF disbursement had employed agents , who in turn forged documents to enable misappropriation of relief money by those who were not the rightful claimants.
Meanwhile, Additional Director General of Police Manoj Abraham, who supervised the VACB inspections, confirmed that the investigation into the racket was gathering pace and it was evident that an organised crime had been committed. The frauds detected so far were just the tip of the iceberg.
Revenue Minister K. Rajan said the government would plug loopholes in the distribution of CMDRF and ensure only the needy benefit from the ex gratia payments. The ongoing investigation would not impede the distribution of CMDRF funds to eligible persons.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan expressed deep shock at the manner in which crores had been misappropriated from the CMDRF. He said the relative ease with which huge amounts seemed to have reached the wrong hands indicates that the officials handling the funds or the Chief Minister’s Office had exercised due diligence in vetting the documents.
‘Examine each file’
He said that earlier, when similar misappropriation of flood relief money had been exposed at Ernakulam, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)‘s [CPI(M)] priority had been to protect the party men involved in the fraud. He said that a special VACB team should be engaged to examine each file. If the VACB investigation went the right way, the involvement of CPI(M) loyalists would come to light, he alleged. Any attempt by the CPI(M) to whitewash those involved in the crime would be closely watched by the UDF, he added.
BJP State president K. Surendran voiced similar sentiments when he said that a well-entrenched network at the government-level, with the active involvement of CPI(M) men, was behind the racket. He said that it was the protection afforded by the CPI(M) to party men who were earlier involved in the flood relief fraud that gave confidence to some to take corruption to the next level.
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