NRC Coordinator lodges FIR against Prateek Hajela with Vigilance cell

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: State NRC (National Register of Citizens) Coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma lodged an FIR with the Vigilance & Anti-Corruption (V&AC) against his predecessor Prateek Hajela and the system integrator, sub-contractors and some others on the charge of corruption and money laundering.

According to the FIR, for conducting updation of the NRC program, M/s WIPRO, the System Integrator (SI), was given the task of supplying Data Entry Operators (DEOs). But M/s WIPRO engaged a sub-contractor for providing DEOs without any approval from the authority. Office records make it clear that the then State Coordinator was aware of the fact that "a sub-contractor was being used to provide DEOs (Data Entry Operators) though he did not officially approve the proposal of SI (System Integrator)." The SI was paid Rs 14,500- to Rs 17,500 per month for each DEO by the NRC authority, but the DEOs got only Rs 5,500 to Rs 9,100 per month from 2015 to 2019 from the sub-contractor.

The FIR further said that as per a provisional audit report, the Accountant General, Assam observed that the difference of margin was exorbitant and the audit assessed that 'undue benefit' to the tune of Rs 155.83 crore is a huge amount, and it is reasonable to suspect that kickbacks and money laundering must have occurred in the process.

"During my investigation, it came to light that one person (name deleted) worked as a middleman in the whole process. He was neither an employee of the office of the State Coordinator nor was he a contractor engaged by the office. But his presence was seen always in the office. It is suspected that he was the key person in managing all the kickbacks and money laundering. A detailed investigation into the transactions, accounts/balance sheets of the persons involved is likely to prove corruption and money laundering as suspected," the FIR said.

The FIR also said, "Para 2.1.3 of the audit report was avoidable expenditure to the tune of Rs 10.73 crore in connection with the engagement of Third-Party Monitoring Consultant (TPMC)… the provision for engagement of third-party consultants and provision for the execution of any supplementary agreement with the SI was neither in the RFP nor in the Master Service Agreement/Service Level Agreement. Further, as per the amended Delegation of Financial Power (DFP) Rules, for the expenditure of more than Rs 5 crore, the State Coordinator (SCNR) should obtain approval of the Empowered Committee headed by the Chief Secretary or from RGI, GOI. In addition, the SCNR has not delegated the power to create posts or engage work-charged/MR/Ad-hoc and casual workers. However, the SCNR engaged the consultants without taking the approval of the Empowered Committee or from the RGI, GOl, in violation of the DFP."

The FIR said, "The scope of work of Project Management Oversight (PMO) of the SI was the same as the scope of works of the TPMC. As the Audit report observed that 'entire expenditure of Rs 10.73 crore made against the engagement of consultants was unjustified and avoidable which resulted in an extra burden to the Government exchequer and undue benefit to the SI to that extent. It is suspected that the TPMC was used to siphon off government money showing works against the same scope of work allotted to the PMO of SI."

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