MARGAO
With no response from the government regarding the Rs 18 lakh fraud in the Margao civic body, the Shadow Council for Margao (SCM) has sent a letter to the Chief Secretary, demanding an inquiry into what the NGO has called another Sopo fee scam.
SCM Convenor Savio Coutinho has called for a thorough financial audit of the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) to root out ongoing corruption. “In our latest representation to the Chief Secretary, we have highlighted yet another attempt to defraud the Municipal treasury,” he said.
Providing details of this new scam, Coutinho explained that the Margao Municipal Council had hired a Sopo Contractor, granting them the “Rights to collect occupation fees” or “Sopo fees” for the period from 01/11/2023 to 31/03/2024. The highest bid of Rs 36,00,786 from M/S Om Constructions was accepted by the Council. Accordingly, the rights to collect fees were granted from 03/11/2023, as stated in a letter dated 03/11/2023. An agreement was then signed by the Council with the successful bidder on 11/12/2023.
To start with, Coutinho claimed that the Sopo Collection Contract is a “BENAMI AGREEMENT,” with the executing party being different from the actual person collecting the Sopo fees.
He also pointed out that a general clause in the tender notice, which stipulated an increase in the instalments payable to the Council in the event of a contract extension, mysteriously disappeared from the public notice inviting bids. This resulted in a loss of 25 per cent of the monthly instalments”25% of Rs 7,20,157, which amounts to Rs 1,80,039 per month, for three months.
“Another general clause regarding penalties for late payments was very slyly removed from the agreement with the Contractor. According to clauses 3 and 4 of the agreement, the Sopo Contractor was required to pay the Council 50% of the bid value of Rs 36,00,786, which is Rs 18,00,393, on 03/11/23, which was paid. The remaining 50%, amounting to Rs 18,00,393, was to be paid in two instalments of Rs 9,00,197 each, on 31/01/2024 and 28/02/2024. However, the Contractor paid the instalment due on 31/01/2024 only on 14/03/2024, which was 42 days late, without any late fees charged,” Coutinho added.
He noted that the Contractor had provided the Council with a bank guarantee for Rs 20,44,253, issued by HDFC Bank, which expired on 30/08/2024.
“As per clause 4 of the Agreement dated 11/12/2023, the Council should have forfeited this bank guarantee back in February 2024 when the Contractor defaulted on the payments due at that time. Some vested interests and politicians are deliberately delaying the forfeiture of the bank guarantee before it expires on 30/08/2024, for obvious reasons. If the records are checked, it will be found that a similar situation was facilitated in the past, causing the Council to lose several lakhs of rupees due to the expiry of a bank guarantee, which has still not been recovered,” Coutinho said.
Coutinho has demanded that the bank guarantee be forfeited as a top priority. He has also called for a Vigilance inquiry to recover all losses, with interest, from those responsible.
In addition, the SCM has demanded that the Chief Secretary order a thorough financial audit of the Margao Municipal Council to root out the alleged rampant corruption taking place at the expense of the public exchequer.
