The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday examined former Jammu & Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik as a witness in connection with a group health insurance scheme case.
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“A CBI team went to Mr. Malik’s Delhi residence around noon and examined him for about five hours as a witness,” said a CBI official. The agency had earlier recorded his statement in October last year.
Mr. Malik told The Hindu on phone: “They were inquiring about the insurance scheme which I had cancelled...I told them the truth.” The CBI had recently contacted him for some clarifications in the case, days after the Opposition parties targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the charges he had made during an interview with journalist Karan Thapar for The Wire.
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In April last year, the agency had registered two cases on a reference from the State administration, following corruption allegations made by Mr. Malik, to probe the alleged malpractices in the award of contracts related to the Jammu and Kashmir Employees Health Care Insurance Scheme for government employees; and civil works worth about Rs.2,200 crore linked to the Kiru hydroelectric power project.
According to the CBI, the State administration found that the process for selecting the insurer was initiated in February 2017. A notice-inviting tender was issued in June 2018 and the new insurer selected the same year through competitive bidding. Under the new scheme, an insurance of Rs.6 lakh per annum per employee/pensioner on a premium of Rs.8,777 (employees) and Rs.22,291 (pensioners) had been fixed.
Following protests, the contract was cancelled by Mr. Malik in October 2018. He was the J&K Governor from August 2018 to October 2019.