Demanding immediate axing of Sushil Kumar Modi from the Ministry and his arrest, RJD supremo lalu Prasad on Saturday said the fund transfer scam involving several thousand crores should be probed by the CBI. lalu accused involvement of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, BJP leaders Giriraj Singh, Shahnawaz Husain, Manoj Tewari and host of officials, builders and traders in the “biggest” scandal.
“If I can be accused in the fodder scam because I happened to be then Finance Minister, why not Sushil Modi who had been Finance Minister since 2005 and now heading the same department should be named as accused and arrested,” said lalu. The fund transfer scam is also related to the withdrawal of funds through treasury and depositing the money in various banks and a Bhagalpur based NGO Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti limited.
lalu also showed some photographs of Nitish, Modi, Giriraj, Shahnawaz and others with Srijan founder Manorma Devi. lalu said this scam started soon after Nitish became CM in 2005. He also revealed that in 2013 the RBI had written to Bihar Government for an inquiry in this scam but no action was taken.
One of the DMs of Bhagalpur had constituted a committee to probe the matter but its report was also spiked.
“Is it possible that this huge scam was not in the knowledge of NitishIJ Where his zero tolerance on corruption goneIJ Nitish is as much culprit as Sushil Modi. The CM should recommend CBI for inquiry,” said lalu and added that he would himself meet the top official of the CBI in Patna and would also write to CAG for special audit.
The RJD boss said the fund illegally withdrawn from treasury’s Pl Account has been taken out of the country as well as other parts of the country. Malls and apartments were being constructed, including in Patna, from this fund and money laundering could not be ruled out, he said and added that huge amount has been involved in the real estate. He said many DMs of Bhagalpur clandestinely withdrew huge amounts from Srijan through their wives. He said this scandal was not only in Bhagalpur but across the State illegal fund transfer was going on.
This scandal was revealed by Nitish a few days back at a meeting and he immediately air-dashed a team of officials of economic offences to Bhagalpur where some arrests have been made. The SIT submitted its report to the Chief Secretary who confessed that the amount in the scam could go up.
However, lalu was not satisfied with the team of officials and said they were all favourite bureaucrats of Nitish. “They have arrested only small fish. What about the big fish like Sushil Modi and Nitish. Modi kambal orh ke ghee pee raha tha aur mere upar arop laga raha tha (Modi was enjoying the scam and leveling allegations on me). The question is who had ordered the withdrawal of funds from treasury and who was the Finance MinisterIJ Why Nitish remained silent despite holding review meetings every now and then,” said lalu.