The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) on Friday found several irregularities in the e-auction of valuable timber by the Forest Department, including evidence pointing to possible bid rigging.
The agency inspected 28 timber depots operated by the Forest Department across Kerala in a surprise inspection code-named ‘Operation Bhageera.’
Officials said the intelligence wing of the VACB had conducted a preliminary secret survey of the sale of valuable timber by the Forest Department. Their report had prompted the almost simultaneous surprise raids early Friday.
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The intelligence wing had stumbled upon several flaws in the auction procedure that insiders could easily exploit to facilitate corruption and thereby cause loss to the public exchequer.
Investigators said they suspected that the rates applicable to individual buyers looking for timber to build homes were extended to timber merchants illegally. They said it was the same set of persons who participated in the auctions, pointing to possible coterie formation.
The VACB also found procedural violations, opacity in tender procedures, and possible attempts to fix bids with the aid of insider information. The corruption was seen mainly in the sale of teak, a much vaunted and scarce commodity.
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Investigators said they suspected that several persons who participated in the tenders were nominees of wholesale timber merchants.
The anti-corruption officers physically verified the stock in several depots and found large stockpiles of auctioned items lying abandoned in the yards. They said the rules required to a buyer to take possession of the timber within 40 days or pay a daily fine.
They said the method of operation was for the coterie of certain corrupt officials to win bids slyly and then keep the timber in the depots till they get orders from private buyers.
The method would save them transport costs. In some instances, corrupt officials devalued hardy timber as spoiled wood and sold it to timber merchants or their nominees for far less than market rates. In some cases, timber traders were allowed to transport more cubic metres out of depots than they had won in auctions.
The VACB officers said the inspections would continue and an entire scale of the suspected racket to emerge would take more time. The State earns annual revenue of more than ₹250 crore from the sale of valuable timber, including sandalwood. Director of VACB B.S. Muhammad Yasin led the raid.