Smelling a multi-crore scam in the government’s decision to procure sand from Malaysia for distribution in the State through Mysore Sales International Limited (MSIL), Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly Jagadish Shettar on Tuesday said that the whole deal seems to have been executed through a shell company.
Releasing some documents at a press conference here to substantiate his charge that there was a scam in sand procurement, Mr. Shettar said that there were lot of discrepancies with regard to the registered address of the company, Poseidon FZE of UAE, which has bagged the tender and the post box number given by it.
Mr. Shettar alleged that in the tender documents, Poseidon FZE had given bank guarantee from Axios Credit Bank, Singapore, and Earnest Money Deposit. “However, Axios Credit Bank Ltd. has, in its website, confirmed that it doesn’t have any branch in Singapore. As per records, the bank has its office in Gambia. It is nothing but an international-level criminal conspiracy to loot the State Exchequer,” he said. Mr. Shettar said that when M-sand was available at ₹ 650 per tonne, the government had entered into a deal to import sand from Malaysia at a cost of ₹ 4,000 per tonne (in 50 kg bags of ₹ 200 each). “In all, it is a scam to loot ₹ 5,850 crore through MSIL with the connivance of senior officials of MSIL. And, the tragedy is that it is happening under the protection of the State government,” he said.
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He said that although complaints about the scam had been submitted to the State government, the Chief Secretary had failed to initiate any action in the matter. Mr. Shettar said that three top officials of MSIL Prakash, Mahaveer and Chandrashekhar, were behind the scam and he had strong suspicion that officials of the Chief Minister’s office too were involved in it.
“Such a big deal cannot be executed without the tacit support of influential leaders. If the Chief Minister is clear in his conscience, he should immediately hand over the case for investigation to Central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate or the Central Bureau of Investigation. Or, inquiry could also be made by Central Customs Department and Registrar of Companies. I urge the Chief Minister to immediately cancel the tender,” he said.
Mr. Shettar said that he would also write to the Union government urging for speedy inquiry into the issue as there were reports in a section of the media about illegal sand mining in Malaysia and exports from there.
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Mr. Shettar also alleged that he had strong doubts about the sand purchase deal being executed to make huge payouts to the Congress high command in the wake of elections. He warned that if no steps were immediately taken, the BJP would resort to an agitation during the legislature session and also outside.