Mystery of missing valuables grows

Officials’ replies to GCDA’s show-cause notices contradict former chairman’s claims

The curious case of missing valuables of the guest house of the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) has turned murkier with revelations that assets worth over Rs.85,000 were already found missing when the former chairman vacated it in last May.

This emerged from the replies filed by two assistant engineers and an assistant executive engineer in response to show-cause notices served by the GCDA.

They claimed that valuables were found missing when the former chairman, N. Venugopal, vacated the guest house and a liability report was duly filed with the then GCDA secretary, R. Lalu, who had since been placed under suspension.

Case to be filed

Highly placed GCDA sources told

The Hindu that the secretary never issued a notice to the former chairman to recover the lost property. On the basis of claims made by the officers, the new chairman, C.N. Mohanan, is learned to have called for the file concerned and stumbled upon the liability report.

With the unearthing of the new facts, the GCDA has now decided to file a police case. Also, consultations are being held with the legal team to verify whether it can be handed over to the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) simultaneously.

The VACB is already investigating another corruption case of the GCDA. The new governing committee is ‘shocked’ by the new findings.

“The assessment is that a facilitating atmosphere for the mismanagement of GCDA’s property was created by the previous regime,” sources said.

Venugopal’s statement

Mr. Venugopal had claimed at a press conference that he had not appropriated any property of the GCDA.

He had also said that the maintenance assistant engineer had verified the list of valuables at the guest house in a day-long exercise after he stepped down on May 24 last year.

Even Mr. Mohanan had initially given a clean chit to Mr. Venugopal based on this verification process but is now learned to have changed his opinion in the light of the new findings.