Karnataka govt suspends two officials of Valmiki Corporation in illegal money transfer case

PTI, May 30, 2024, 9:33 AM IST

The State government on Wednesday suspended the Managing Director and an official of the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation Ltd over allegations of an illegal money transfer.

The unauthorised transfer of Rs 88.62 crore from the corporation’s bank account came to light after an Accounts Superintendent of the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation Ltd, Chandrashekhar, died by suicide on Sunday evening, leaving behind a note.

He has named the corporation’s Managing Director J G Padmanabh, Accounts Officer Parashuram G Durugannavar and Union Bank of India Chief Manager Suchismita Rawal in the note, while also stating that minister in charge had issued oral orders for transferring the funds.

The opposition BJP has demanded the resignation of Scheduled Tribes Welfare Minister B Nagendra, following the allegations.

Padmanabh and Durgannanavar have been suspended as they allegedly overlooked the creation of a new bank account that facilitated unauthorised transfer of funds.

They have been suspended pending inquiry on charges of dereliction of duty, negligence and violation of financial rules, their suspension orders said.

According to the government, the corporation had its savings bank account in the Vasanth Nagar branch of the Union Bank of India, but another account was opened in the MG Road branch of the bank without authorisation, and funds to the tune of Rs 187 crore was moved to the new account “illegally”.

Further stating that between March 5 and 23, Rs 88.62 crore was withdrawn from the MG Road branch account by anonymous persons, the suspension orders of both officials said that they did not act on it and held them responsible.

Pointing out that the money was moved to 14 “anonymous accounts” using “forged” cheques and RTGS letters, and an unknown number was entered instead of the registered mobile number for this purpose, the government said that it was also ensured that the intimation of the transaction did not reach the corporation’s registered email address.

It was found that through 14 “virtual accounts”, money went to accounts in the name of well-known IT companies and a Hyderabad-based cooperative bank, the government said, adding, “These accounts were frozen and Rs 5 crore was returned to the corporation, and efforts are on to to ensure the return of the remaining amount.” Noting that Padmanabh, despite getting to know about the illegal transfer of money to 14 different bank accounts on May 22, submitted a report to the government only on May 27, a day after Chandrashekhar died by suicide leaving a note naming officials involved in the scam, the government said.

The report was submitted after it asked for it, following allegations, and the delay on his part in reporting the matter amounted to dereliction of duty, the government added.

Durgannanavar has been found to have failed in his duty in managing the bank accounts and financial transactions of the corporation, and in bringing it to the notice of higher officials, it added.

Following Padmanabh’s suspension, the government has given additional charge to ST Welfare Department’s Joint Director K R Rajkumar as the Managing Director of the Corporation, official sources said.

Earlier in the day, Home Minister G Parameshwara said that a CID probe is on and the truth will be known from the probe.