SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, Feb. 25: All eyes are on the Enforcement Directorate now after the agency completes the interrogation of Chief Engineer Virendra Ram, who is alleged to have accumulated illegal wealth of over Rs 125 crore by awarding contracts to the favoured companies.
For, Virendra Ram may just have a character role if one shoots a film on various facets of corruption in Jharkhand where ‘an owl sits on every branch (har shaakh pe ullu baitha hai).’ Ram is said to be in a shock and disbelief under the ED custody, as he has been earlier frustrating every move of the state anti-corruption bureau (ACB) to nail him in corruption cases.
The ED had arrested Ram on February 22.
Right now, it is not in the public domain as who are the bureaucrats or politicians who have received cuts for awarding the tenders in the departments where Ram had been posted for years, particularly during the last eight years.
But, in its plea to the PMLA court seeking remand of Ram, the ED had submitted that certain highly placed officials/ politicians are involved in this nexus and the huge payments were usually received in cash which were later laundered which needs to be unearthed.
The agency had stated that Ram has confessed that he used to receive 0.3 percent of the tender amount from the companies which were awarded the tenders, as commission.
In the remand note, the ED had also stated that Ram played a pivotal role in managing the tenders and allocation of works to private entities and the percentage of commission was distributed in a mechanised manner up to higher ups of government, including highly placed bureaucrats and politicians. Further, during the investigation names of senior bureaucrats and politicians have emerged which is being investigated by the ED.
Now, the big question is what will be the next step of the ED against the bureaucrats and politicians named by Ram during interrogation, who received a hefty cut.
It, however, won’t be an easy job for the ED to nail the bureaucrats/politicians heading the works departments like the road construction, building construction, water resources, rural works and drinking water and sanitation.
According to an insider, the most important reason for the senior IAS officers eying these departments is that they can earn illegal money without signing a tender file there. “The buck stops with the engineers. It is only the engineer who takes the risk and earns money too,” he said.
Besides, the secretaries alongwith ministers heading these departments may make money out of transfer-posting of engineers where again there is no strong proof to punish them.
This is the reason these departments are supposed to be prime posting for a secretary level IAS officers and plum portfolios for ministers.
Under the system, the decision on a tender above Rs 5 crore is taken by a committee, consisting of Engineer-in-chief, Chief Engineer and two officials from the administrative side like joint secretary or deputy secretary. Likewise, the Chief Engineer takes a call on the contract below Rs 5 crore and the Superintending engineer awards tender below Rs 1 crore.
“Usually, the secretary or the minister just put a word with the committee to award the tender to a firm or person of his/her choice. And the committee mostly goes by it,” pointed out a retired superintending engineer.
“No wonder, it will be difficult for the ED to nail a secretary or minister by examining the tender papers alone. They will face the music only when Virendra Ram reveals names of the bureaucrats and the politicians with whom he might have shared the commission along with some corroborative evidences,” he signed off.
