Its more gold than cash in government offices now. Surprise checks conducted by sleuths of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) in Government establishments across Tamil Nadu a day ahead of Deepavali led to seizure of more gold than cash.
Investigators say that a new trend of accepting gold or silver ornaments instead of cash as gifts for Deepavali has set in.
Special teams of the DVAC and District Inspection Cell conducted simultaneous checks in government offices across Tamil Nadu early on Tuesday following specific information that some officials were resorting to collecting gifts for Deepavali.
In the office of the District Forest Officer at Teynampet here, 113 grams of gold jewellery and ₹3.4 lakh of unaccounted cash were seized.
After the DFO claimed that the gold jewels belonged to his friend, police officials called that person over phone. But he denied the claims of the official.
In Tiruchi, the teams searched the office of the Assistant Commissioner (Accounts) and others, Tiruchi Corporation, and seized 32 gold coins weighing 42 grams besides ₹1.36 lakh of unaccounted cash. The officials made no claims to the valuables found concealed in their premises.
At the Labour Inspectors’ offices in Nandanam here, ₹66,000 unaccounted cash and 500 grams of silver articles were found. In Udhagamandalam and Villupuram too, DVAC officials seized unaccounted cash to the tune of ₹73,200 and ₹2.5 lakh from the offices of the Panchayat Union and Backward Classes Officer respectively.
The DVAC registered cases and seized valuables for further investigation. “Unless the suspects account for the gold, silver and cash seized from their respective premises, it will be presumed that it is pecuniary benefit. We will examine the details of the visitors who came to meet them in the last few days...most of the offices have CCTV or visitors registers,” a DVAC official said.
