Reacting to the State Government’s belated move to appoint a Judicial Commission under a retired judge to inquire into the chit fund scams, senior Congress leader Niranjan Patnaik on Wednesday wrote a fifth letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik demanding a thorough probe into the scams by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under judicial supervision to prosecute the guilty.
The former PCC president in a Press release said, “A judicial inquiry is not a criminal investigation. A judge has no powers to collect evidence for prosecution of the guilty in a court of law. The commission may look into larger issues and give its findings in the next five years and that may also be too optimistic going by the past records of the commissions instituted by your Government. Should these tainted individuals on whom there is more than a shadow of wrongdoing be allowed to hold public office till thenIJ Frankly speaking, you have been trying to play hide-and-seek with the truth. There is now an impression that you have announced a set of steps on July 9 only to influence the course of the ongoing PIls in the Supreme Court and the Odisha High Court. Why were these steps not taken earlier and why now coinciding with the court hearingsIJ”
Patnaik said that his last four letters on the widespread chit fund scams that prospered during last 10 years in the BJD-led Government have neither been acknowledged by the CM nor by his office. “What has astonished me most is the unwillingness of the CM to admit to the scale of the fraud perpetrated by a group of fraudsters in direct connivance of powerful people under governmental oversight. Also, the refusal of the police to nail down any one high and mighty giving an impression that no part of the Government need be accountable for such glaring and broad light looting and infringement of current laws in force. I am sure Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code was in existence all these years as was Section 120 (B) while all these unsavoury events took place,” he added.
He demanded that the CM clarify if “fraudster” Pradip Sethi, AT Group chief, had donated a substantial amount of money to the CM’s Relief Fund, as is being rumored. “So far, the CM has been dithering and waiting to see if he can minimise the damage by waiting for public memory to fade or media focus to alter. It is now almost understood that a few of his Ministers and party leaders have received favours from these companies in cash and kinds,” said Patnaik.
“These fraudsters were moving around in the power corridors as respectable entrepreneurs with the high and the mighty and were known to many in your party. But when it came to accepting criminal or moral liability, you have managed to keep the identities of all these leaders who had clear and identifiable nexus and provided patronage under wrap. Are you afraid that the scams may see your media profile crumble like a house of cardsIJ” Patnaik asked. Expressing happiness at the creation of a corpus fund as demanded by him from the beginning, the Congress leader wondered how a sum of Rs 300 crore can compensate the scams that are now estimated at Rs 10,000 croreIJ