House panel to decide on mode of investing Corporation funds

Maharashtra Legislative Council Chairman Ramraje Nimbalkar today directed the state government to set up a committee of House members to suggest ways to deposit funds available with state-run corporations into nationalised banks or with the state treasury.
His directive came during the Question Hour after Minister for Finance and Planning, Sudhir Mungantiwar sought direction from the Chair in the debate over the starred question raised by Shobhatai Fadnavis (BJP) and others.
Earlier, replying to supplementary queries Mungantiwar said that between June 2013-14 a total of Rs 143.45 crore of Fixed Term Deposits, deposited in nationalised banks like Dena Bank were misappropriated.

"The amount includes Rs 45.23 crore of MMRDA, Rs 64.09 crore of MTDC, Rs 25.73 crore of MPMVC and Rs 8.10 crore of SRCCVC," he said.
The minister informed the House that the previous government had handed over the matter for investigation to CBI and to the EOW.
Mungantiwar further said that the accused approached the Corporations posing as bank representatives and offered them additional 1 to 1.5 per cent interest rate.

"They also used to approach nationalised banks as representatives of Corporations and used electronic fund transfer instruments like RTGS to transfer funds into their bank accounts using Overdraft means, keeping original receipts with them and submitting duplicate receipts," he said.

Mungantiwar further said that out of Rs 143.15 crore deposited with nationalised banks at present, government can only recover Rs 57 crore.
"In order to recover the rest of money the government is pursuing the matter with RBI. The CBI has checked bank accounts of Corporation officials and found no financial irregularities," he said.
Mungantiwar added that the CBI has stated that the Corporation officials were infact cheated.
He said that the Finance department has now laid down norms for Corporations to invest their funds with banks or with government treasury. Mungantiwar then urged the Chair to give directions for setting up of a committee comprising of members of the House to debate on the issue.