Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s police advisor Raman Srivastava behind the vigilance raids conducted in the Kerala State Financial Enterprises offices (KFSE) Ltd, a public sector chit fund in the state, across the state on Saturday according to the reports. The anti-corruption drive by VACB was code-named Operation Budget.
The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) conducted surprise raids on the offices of KSFE, and has alleged major anomalies in its schemes and transactions. The raid was conducted after a secret preliminary investigation. The VACB has referred that about five anomalies have been found in the raid and this was mentioned in the letter given to the KSFE officials while conducting the raid. Reports are also coming out that Chief minister as well as Finance Minister Mr Thomas Isaac was unaware about the raid conducted. Meanwhile, KSFE is planning an auditing in the branches where the raids were conducted.
Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac and the finance department are displeased over the raids conducted by Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau at the KSFE offices in the state. The raid was conducted to analyse KFSE’s chitty schemes. According to reports, discrepancies were allegedly detected in 20 KSFE offices across the state. Some of the anomalies found by the VACB range include manipulating the bidding, drawing of lots, gold loan sector, availing cash advances and loans on the deposits of customers and evaluating the value of title deeds as collateral for loans, among others. It also alleged that bidding and drawing of lots were in favour of some chitty fund customers. The report also added that the findings are preliminary and a forensic audit would be required to bring out more details.
