The multi-crore inter-corporate deposit scam that put Madhya Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation (MPSIDC), an arm of the state industries department, on the verge of closure, haunted the state Assembly today.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, while replying to the motion of thanks on the governor’s speech, said the corruption came to light during the previous Congress regime. Money was distributed to influential people by putting rules and regulations at bay, he added.
Pointing out the specific cases of corruption, the chief minister said in one case the culprit even did not bother to put white fluid (that corrects typographical errors) and change a figure of Rs 3 crore to Rs 6 crore by overwriting on it. “In a day, they disbursed Rs 65 crore? Now a special court has been set up to hear all these cases of corruption for speedy judgments. None would be allowed to go scot-free,” Chouhan assured the House.
The loans, which were obtained by MPSIDC, Chouhan said, were guaranteed loans and the corrupt officials and industrialists who had not repaid the loans would be brought to book.
Two managing directors of MPSIDC have obtained secured loans from various financial institutions and disbursed them among influential people to commit a Rs 714-crore scam. The industrialists later refused to pay. The amount involved has reportedly reached more than Rs 2,000 crore.
On the other hand, the financial institutes have filed cases against MPSIDC. If the money is not recovered, its closure is imminent.
Meanwhile, in a written reply to a non-starred category question of Sanjay Singh Makrai, that whether the state economic offence wing had lodged any FIR against any accused in the scam, the chief minister replied that FIRs under Sections 409, 420, 467, 468 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code and 13(1) of the Anti-Corruption Act had been lodged by the agency against the then MPSIDC chief, Rajendra Kumar Singh, and others.