The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday accused former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit of being in the know of a ‘scam’ that took place in a city cooperative bank during her tenure. The AAP also accused her of not taking any action to stop the scam.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said directors of the lajpat Nagar branch of ‘Delhi Nagrik Sahkari Bank’ were involved in the alleged scam and the directors were elected fradulently.
Showing purported pages of the bank’s register, he claimed that Dikshit herself had purchased 1,000 membership forms of the bank. He said a Delhi Assembly Committee was looking into the case.
Bharadwaj said of the 67,000 members of the bank, only 14,000 were found to be real and Congress leaders were also involved in the ‘scam’.
He said though an inquiry was conducted in 2012 into loans and recruitment of the bank, during Dikshit’s tenure, no action was taken.
“And when accountability is being fixed on M.M. Kutty (present Chief Secretary) and Registrar of Cooperative Society at that time, why does Sheila Dikshit have a problemIJ” he asked. Bharadwaj said the scam happened under her nose and added that Kutty was the Principal Secretary of Dikshit. “The fact remains that many selected candidates were related to the Chairman and directors in some way or the other.
It cannot be a sheer coincidence,” Bharadwaj said. The officer who conducted the inquiry had recommended investigation into the matter but nothing was done, Bharadwaj said.
He said that 80 per cent of the loans worth crores of rupees were given based on fake documents and 58 per cent of the loans had turned into Non-performing Assets (NPAs).
The allegations came a day after Dikshit slammed Kejriwal. “Kejriwalji, Delhi has some of the most efficient bureaucrats. They helped me tirelessly in achieving my goal of transforming Delhi,” she tweeted on Tuesday. She was referring to comment made earlier by Kejriwal that “90 per cent IAS officers do not work” in Delhi.
However, Dikshit could not be contacted for comments.