MARGAO: Reacting sharply to the FIR lodged against the general secretary of the National Union of Seafarers of India (NUSI) for allegedly siphoning crores of rupees from the seafarers’ welfare fund, the seafarer community in Goa has demanded that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) handle the probe.
On Tuesday, the Economic Offenses Wing ( EOW) of the Mumbai Police booked NUSI General Secretary Abdul Gani Yakub Sarang and others in the Rs 10 crore cheating case and the fraud amount is likely to increase as the investigation progresses.
Sarang is accused of siphoning money collected in the name of provident funds, social allowance and welfare funds from the salaries of 1.6 lakh Indian seafarers working on foreign ships, by depositing it with a private trust and not with the Central government.
The Goa Seamen Association of India had complained against NUSI in the past as the retired seafarers or their widows were not getting the financial dues owed to them.
GSAI founder member Dixon Vaz, who had suspected the scam and had appealed for an investigation in the past, gave instances of alleged fraudulent decisions taken by NUSI to deduct salaries of seafarers working on cruise liners and how NUSI failed families of seafarers who were injured or died during duty. GSAI President Frank Viegas added the investigation should also look to see if shipping companies were hand in glove in the scam. Viegas also referred to the case GSAI has taken up in the High Court against NUSI for abruptly trying to close the pension scheme for retired seafarers.
