Defence auditors caught 145;taking paybacks146; in hotel

The Kolkata Police8217;s Detective Department claims to have caught six auditors of the Controller of Defence Accounts...

The Kolkata Police8217;s Detective Department claims to have caught six auditors of the Controller of Defence Accounts CDA, Patna, with official documents, including bills for medical purchases made by the Command Hospital, Eastern Command, while reportedly holding 8220;unauthorised8221; meetings with creditors at a Kolkata hotel 10 days ago.

However, in the absence of a complaint, they had to let them go after a few hours. The raid, carried out on May 9 at Hotel Savera in the New Market area following an intelligence tip-off, had caught the auditors red-handed settling bills of Kolkata-based pharma suppliers for a percentage kickback.

The CDA auditors, whose endorsement is required for payment of bills of suppliers to defence installations, had apparently come to Kolkata to expedite settlement of outstanding bills totalling Rs 1 crore.

Deputy Commissioner Detective Department Jawed Shamim said the lack of a formal complaint had tied the police8217;s hands. 8220;They are senior Central Government employees. An amount of Rs 5.4 lakh in cash among six persons is not unnaturally large. No complaint was lodged. 8221;

Senior Auditor Ajay Kumar, however, denied any wrongdoing. 8220;We had come to Kolkata to watch the IPL match. We left for Kolkata straight from office and those documents were carried by mistake due to the rush. As it was raining in Kolkata that day, we couldn8217;t go for the match. The mentioned amount in cash was not in our possession,8221; Kumar told The Indian Express from Patna.

Among the documents allegedly carried by the auditors was a letter signed by the Officer-In-Charge, Medical Stores, of the Eastern Command Hospital, Lt Col Anjani Kumar. The letter referred to outstanding bills of 26 Kolkata-based pharma suppliers totalling Rs 1 crore.

They were reportedly also carrying a letter related to the procurement of Local Area Network LAN testing equipment worth Rs 2,30,048 for the Eastern Command.

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8220;The idea was to sanction the payment on the spot in exchange for 10 per cent of the bill amount. Graft money in cash totalling Rs 5.4 lakh was also recovered from the auditors. Besides these documents, they were also carrying diaries with multiple entries and billing reference numbers. Carrying such documents out of the office seriously compromises the medical and communication security of the forces,8221; sources said.