6 days ago
Madhya Pradesh School Offices Lead Rs 648-Crore Payment Probe
Madhya Pradesh is checking government payments for possible mistakes or wrongdoing.
The School Education Department had the largest number of offices flagged for review.
The payments being examined total about Rs 648 crore.
Some money was sent to private bank accounts connected to officials or their relatives.
Some money also moved out of special government treasury accounts.
Investigators found weaknesses such as duplicate employee codes and shared passwords.
About Rs 220 crore has been recovered or reversed so far.
Officials say more checks are needed before deciding whether every flagged payment was illegal.
The School Education Department had the most flagged Drawing and Disbursing Offices, with 45 of 187 statewide.
The State Financial Intelligence Cell is examining Rs 349 crore in irregular transfers and Rs 299 crore in suspicious or potentially fraudulent payments.
Investigators identified about Rs 305 crore in transfers to private accounts linked to officials, employees, spouses or relatives.
Another Rs 293 crore meant for Treasury Personal Deposit accounts was transferred to other bank accounts, according to probe details.
Authorities reported recovering Rs 56 crore and reversing Rs 164 crore, while safeguards and criminal cases have been introduced or pursued.
- Who
- The Madhya Pradesh government, its State Financial Intelligence Cell, and officials linked to flagged Drawing and Disbursing Offices.
- What
- A probe is examining Rs 648 crore in potentially irregular, suspicious, fraudulent, duplicate or excessive government payments.
- Where
- Across Madhya Pradesh government departments and districts, with transactions processed through the state treasury system.
- When
- The payments under scrutiny date from 2023 to the present; the State Financial Intelligence Cell was constituted on May 9, 2023.
- Why
- To identify unusual payment patterns, recover or reverse improper transfers, and detect possible financial wrongdoing.
Probe Findings
Official Caution
Meaning of flagged payments
Probe Findings
The State Financial Intelligence Cell identified payment patterns involving private accounts, duplicate employee codes, changed mobile numbers and transfers from Treasury Personal Deposit accounts.
Official Caution
A Treasury and Accounts official said the figures were compiled from district-level alerts and do not by themselves prove that money was siphoned off or that every transaction was improper.
Scale of the issue
Probe Findings
The investigation details place Rs 648 crore under scrutiny, including nearly Rs 600 crore in private-account transfers and Treasury Personal Deposit movements.
Official Caution
Officials emphasized that the amount remains under examination and that cases must be investigated individually before conclusions are reached.
Response to suspected wrongdoing
Probe Findings
The probe has led to Rs 56 crore being recovered, Rs 164 crore in transfers being reversed and FIRs against more than 50 officials, according to a government official.
Official Caution
The government has also focused on preventive safeguards, including duplicate-code validation, mobile-number restrictions, payment limits and mandatory two-factor authentication.
Key facts
- Total payments under scrutiny
- Rs 648 crore
- Irregular transfers identified
- Rs 349 crore
- Suspicious or potentially fraudulent payments
- Rs 299 crore
- Flagged Drawing and Disbursing Offices
- 187 statewide, including 45 in School Education
- Transfers to private accounts
- About Rs 305 crore across 199 suspicious transactions
- Transfers from Treasury Personal Deposit accounts
- About Rs 293 crore
- Recovery and reversals
- Rs 56 crore recovered and Rs 164 crore in irregular transfers reversed
Quotes
Senior Accounts and Treasury Department official
A senior official from Madhya Pradesh’s Accounts and Treasury Department commenting on the probe’s preliminary payment data.
“The Rs 600 crore figure which has come to the fore is data collected from across the districts in bits and pieces and sent to the collectorate level. We have not officially communicated this figure to the finance department. These cases come under investigation after the system throws up an alert over a discrepancy in payments. It’s investigated, and only then can we say whether the amount was siphoned off or was a genuine transaction.”
indianexpress.com
“The government has since introduced additional safeguards, including system validation to prevent duplicate employee codes, restrictions on DDOs changing employees’ registered mobile numbers, system-based limits on salary and allowance payments, matching salary payments with an employee’s grade and prescribed salary, and mandatory two-factor authentication for system logins.”
indianexpress.com
Sources
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