The Anti-Corruption Bureau has so far not named any particular Cuncolim Municipal Council official for misappropriation of public funds for over a decade. An FIR registered against the unnamed officials is based on a report submitted by a three-member special audit team which had come out with glaring irregularities in the CMC finances from 2001 to 2013. A glance at audit reports revealed that CMC officials had indeed thrown laid-down financial procedures to the winds.
Take the case of the procurement of dust bins. The audit has come clear that CMC has committed gross irregularities by procuring the dust bins valued at Rs 32.42 lakh via quotations instead of inviting open tenders. It has violated the condition in the sanction order which states the purchase of equipment has to be be made by following codal formalities, which CMC failed to do, the audit observes.
Saying that the purchases were not in accordance with the codal provisions, the audit further observed that while the government gave a grant of only Rs 20 lakh for the purchase of the dust bins, the council ended up spending more than this amount.
Moreover, it has been further revealed that the council had purchased the dust bins in a piecemeal manner to avoid the tendering process. No supply order was made available to the auditors for verification. The CMC also failed to maintain the stock register as a result the entire consignment valued at Rs 32.42 lakh remained unaccounted in the records of the municipal council, resulting in serious irregularity.
The special audit team also found CMC wanting in the purchase of bio-culture powder. Records indicated that the CMC had purchased the bio-culture powder for garbage treatment at a cost of Rs 12.45 lakh by inviting sealed quotations. However, the audit found that the quotations received were not sealed, but open. The audit further observed that while the material was supplied on October 1, 2010, the CMC had taken a resolution to procure the bio-culture powder only on April 26, 2011, terming the purchases as unauthorized.
Moreover, the audit termed as irregular the procedure followed by CMC towards purchase of the powder since the codal formalities were not complied before the procurement. “The CMC has no powers to call quotations towards purchase of this material as the cost exceeds the prescribed limit of Rs two lakh. The purchases ought to have been made by inviting tenders. The CMC has failed to follow the laid-down procedures in all respect. Moreover, the quotations were invited outside the jurisdiction of Goa as all the suppliers of these materials were from outside the state,” the audit revealed.
The audit had further come out with a startling disclosure that the council had released payment of Rs 20 lakh. However, it stated, there is no signature of the contractor on a voucher acknowledging the payment. Further, neither the Chief Officer nor the Chairperson has authorized the payment. Terming the payment made to the contractor as unauthorized, the audit had cast a shadow of doubt as regards the authenticity of the payment to the contractor and hence had called for a probe by an appropriate agency.
A senior ACB officer told The Goan that since the various irregularities have taken place over a span of around a decade, the investigating agency will call for questioning former chief officers and staff, who had served in the municipality during that period.
