TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: Anti-Corruption Bureau officials on Saturday raided the Cuncolim Municipal Council and attached some documents, as the inquiry into the discrepancies in the accounts finally got underway.
ACB sources said the team has attached copies of the fixed deposits as well as all original vouchers from the civic body as part of the ongoing investigations.
Perhaps for the first time, the Cuncolim Municipal Council was found open on Saturday as the ACB had instructed the civic officials to keep the civic body open today for investigation.
The ACB team scanned the account documents for well over three hours as part of the preliminary inquiry. They were seen seated in front of Chief Officer Pravin Barad and other officials collecting information on the Rs 40 lakh government grant, which was put in fixed deposits, without showing the same on the Municipal cash book.
Sources in the ACB said an accounts team would visit the civic body later next week for full fledged investigations into the Rs 40 lakh fixed deposit issue, besides the purchase of cell phones allegedly without quotations as pointed out by the Audit.
The government has asked the ACB to inquire into the CMC accounts after the Accountant General of India pointed out several discrepancies in the accounts especially the Rs 40 lakh grant not being shown in the Municipal cash book.
