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Hearing a petition on the alleged OMFED scam, the Odisha Lokayukta had on April 12 ordered the Crime Branch to conduct an investigation and furnish a preliminary report within three months.
“With the serious allegations made in the complaint, which are based on a special audit report of January 15, 2019, the Odisha Lokayukta directs the Additional Director General of Police, Crime Branch, Odisha, Cuttack to conduct a preliminary inquiry for ascertaining whether there exists a prima facie case for proceeding further in the matter against any public servant,” the Lokayukta order read.
The petition was filed by lawyer Priyadarshan Patnaik after no action was taken against the erring officials following a 2019 audit report which revealed embezzlement of Rs 207.44 crore by senior officers of the OMFED between 2013 and 2018.
Besides, in the report, there were directions to recover Rs 30.65 crore from OMFED's then General Manager JB Mohapatra and Marketing HR Basant Mishra, and the present General Manager (Finance) Suresh Altia.
However, during the departmental inquiry no such irregularities in OMFED had come to fore. "No investigation has been done. A corruption of Rs 208 crore has taken place. As per the order, Rs 30 crore was to be recovered from the officials but they are now retired happily. All those involved need to be brought under the purview of investigation," said Priyadarshan Patnaik, convenor of Jagannath Sena.
Patnaik further said that he will move the Orissa High Court and also the Supreme Court, if justice is denied in the alleged scam in OMFED. However, both JB Mohapatra and Basant Mishra have denied the allegations of irregularities.
"I have already retired. I don't have any idea related to it (Rs 30.65 crore recovery order). I wasn't there when the audit took place," claimed Mohapatra. Similarly, Mishra also feigned ignorance about the same.
Earlier, the Odisha Lokayukta had given a clean chit to senior IAS officer Bishnupada Sethi in connection with the allegations of corruption in Odisha State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation (OMFED) in 2015.
