Zonal office fund fraud issue rocks council again

Thiruvananthapuram: The fund fraud in zonal offices which had triggered opposition protests rocked the corporation council again on Thursday following remarks against three more corporation staff surfacing in the internal committee report. LDF councillor Amshu Vamadevan, in what appeared to be a ploy from CPM to avert any questions from the opposition, demanded clarity regarding reports about three more staff being held responsible in the fund fraud.
Mayor Arya Rajendran said that such a report never came to her notice and even the corporation secretary was not in the know. She said that it was a major lapse on the officials concerned not to have brought her up to speed regarding the issue. Arya Rajendran told the council that the corporation secretary would supervise the probe of the internal committee from now on.
The probe reports were filed as three separate files by the internal committee and were filed on April 8 and 12. This was sent to the establishment wing. The corporation secretary is yet to peruse the final report for recommending any disciplinary action. It is learnt that the lapses being pointed out by the internal committee would invite only a memo and not suspension. Lapses were reported at Sreekaryam, Nemom and Attipra zonal offices.
The corporation has lost an amount of Rs 32.96 lakhs and that needs to be recovered from the staff responsible for it. Departmental inquiry and police investigation are underway, the report says. The incident came to light when the charge officer reported a delay of one month in depositing Rs 1.74 lakh at Sreekaryam zonal office. Further audit showed that an amount of Rs 5.12 lakhs collected over six days between January 22 and July 6 at Sreekaryam zonal office was not reflected in the corporation account.
At Nemom zonal office, where the biggest fraud was committed, an amount of Rs 26.74 lakh was missing. This was collected between January 24, 2020 and July 14. One of the staff who was suspended at Nemom zonal office has told TOI that the amount was frequently carried to the bank by other staff. However, when the funds went missing, all the staff who used to carry money to the bank denied ever carrying the collection amount to the bank. Both the officials also failed to daily check the sealed counter foil returned from the bank and paste it on the register. No record was also kept to monitor the person who carried the amount to the bank.
The civic body will take legal opinion on recovering the lost amount from the staff responsible for it. The corporation wants to clarify whether initiating recovery procedures will tinker with the on-going criminal proceedings against the staff under suspension.