TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Nearly two months after sleuths of the Anti-Corruption Bureau raided the Cuncolim Municipal Council, the probe into the discrepancies in the municipal accounts has hit a block.
The reason is simple: Since the ACB officials seized the files and documents from the civic body on June 29 last, the same were later handed over to the panel of government appointed auditors for scrutiny and verification.
It has now come to light that the ACB probe into the account discrepancies has not made any headway since the team of auditors have till date not submitted a detailed report on the status of CMC accounts.
When Herald contacted a senior official in the Anti-Corruption Bureau to find out the progress of investigations into the CMC accounts, he pointed out that the probe has come to a standstill for want of the inquiry report from the government-appointed auditors. “May be the report has not come from the auditors since they are overburdened with the scrutiny of accounts pertaining to many inquiries by the ACB”, remarked an official in the know.
The ACB had raided the Civic body following a complaint that an amount of Rs 40 lakh received by the Municipality was not recorded in the cash book though the amount was remitted in the Canara bank as fixed deposit.
In a communication to the Director of Municipal Administrator, Cuncolim Municipal Chairperson Devendra Desai said that he has been informed by the cashier that an amount of Rs 40 lakhs (principal amount) was remitted in the Canara bank and made fixed deposit, but the same entry is not recorded in the cash book.
