How could two senior clerks manage to deceive and manipulate procedures to effect a multi-crore financial scam in the sports department and how did it go unnoticed over several years? These are the two million dollar questions that the probe into this scam will have to focus on. The accounts department has been put into action and asked to probe, following a complaint by a peon in the sports department. Allegedly crores of rupees were misappropriated by submitting fake bills to the accounts department to sanction advance payments for the purchase of sports materials. It is also alleged that sports kits were given to a select few and sports materials were siphoned off and distributed to relatives of staff. The complaint states that the scam has been going on for years with the collusion of some staff in the accounts department.
The motive of the peon spilling the beans now despite the fact that this scam has been running into several years is a secondary matter. He should be commended for his valor in throwing down the gauntlet that if proved wrong he may be sacked.
The chief minister’s office should have been seized of the matter and initiated an independent inquiry. The Directorate of Accounts which is investigating the case cannot do justice to this complaint with some of its own staff allegedly embroiled in the scam.
A financial irregularity of such a magnitude cannot be stage-managed by the lower rung staff or even senior clerks without the active connivance of senior level of bureaucracy involving the Directorate of Accounts from where the funds have been channelized.
At a time when the government is taking initiatives to promote sports at every level, this comes as a huge setback and is unfair on those budding youth who have been denied sports kits and support. This also exposes the hollow systems of our department functioning where lack of checks and balances have been exposed, where fake bills can be easily passed as genuine, where systems can be bypassed and rules flouted at a drop of a hat.
The blame cannot be rested on one female staffer who has been serving at the same office for the past two decades. It is common knowledge that files in government departments move laboriously from one section to another going through multiple checks and approvals. This only widens the scope of more staffers being partners in crime.
The peon has also alleged a massive scam during the National School Sports events at Peddem-Mapusa in 2016, adding that scam would be exposed during scrutiny of bills for the sporting events. Government should handle this with all seriousness and urgency. It’s time to stem the rot in the sports department.
http://englishnews.thegoan.net/story.php?id=41391
