(a) whether the CBI has recently raided the offices and residential premises of some revenue officers in the country;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) the details of seizure made by the CBI; and
(d) further steps taken by Government against these officers on the basis of outcome of raids?
FINANCE MINISTER (SHRI P. CHIDAMBARAM)
(a), (b), (c) & (d) : A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a), (b), (c) & (d) OF LOK
SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.176 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 16.7.2004.
(a) Yes, Sir. As a part of their nationwide special drive, the
CBIconducted searches in the premises of officers of Income
Tax and Customs & Central Excise Departments on 25.6.2004.
10 cases under the various Sections of Indian Penal Code,
1860 and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 have been registered
against 19 officers of these Departments.
(b)&(c) The details are at Annexure -I.
(d) Out of 19 officers against whom cases have been registered by
CBI,13 officers, as a first step, have been transferred to
non-sensitive postings. 5 officers were already under suspension
and 1 officer has been placed under suspension on 2.7.2004.
Annexure - I
Details of cases registered and searches conducted by the CBI on Revenue Officers
S.No. Case No. Name of Accused/Officer(s) 1 RC 3(A)/2004 JDH Sh.Brij Lal Sahu, Joint Commissioner, Income Tax,Range-I, Bikaner (Rajasthan) Brief Allegation : Possession of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. Places of search : Residential presmises and office premises of Sh.B.L. Sahu Detected/ Seizures made by the CBI : Cash and property worth Rs.68,35,171/- 2 RC.3(A)/2004 ACU.III 1.Sh.Bamin Tari,the then Deputy Commissioner of Customs,ACTL, Ballabhgarh, presently posted as Joint Commissioner, Directorate General of Systems, New Delhi, 2.Sh.S.L. Bansal, the then Assistant Commissioner of Customs, ACTL, Ballabhgarh and other private persons. Brief Allegation : During 2002-2003, the accused Customs officials in criminal conspiracy with the accused private exporters allowed false DEPB benefits to the extent of Rs.24 Crore to the companies/firms owned/controlled by the exporters by allowing fraudulent exports to France,UK,Canada and USA cheated Govt. of India in lieu of illegal gratification for several lakhs of rupees and caused corresponding wrongful loss to Govt. exchequer. Places of search : Office & Residence of Accused persons. Detected/ Seizures made by the CBI : Besides recovery of incriminating documents, property worth Rs.6,03,936/- was detected 3 RC.24(A)/ 2004 ACB/KOL 1.Sh.Bijay Kumar, the then Additional Commissioner of Customs, Kolkata. 2. Sh.P.K. Goswami, the then Joint Commissioner of Customs , Kolkata. 3. Sh. Shaukat Ali, the then Customs Appraiser, Customs House, Kolkata and other private persons. Brief Allegation : Cheated Customs Department by falsely declaring complete photocopier machines as incomplete photocopier machine and thereby evaded payment of Customs duty. Places of search : Office & Residential premises of Accused persons. Detected/ Seizures made by the CBI : Incriminating documents. 4 RC.27(A)/ 2004 ACB/KOL 1. Sh.P.C.Biswas, Superintendent, 2. Sh.P.K. Paul, Inspector. 3. Sh. D.K. Sinha, Inspector.All of Ghojadanga Land Customs Stations, 24 Parganas West Bengal. Brief Allegation : Made an attempt to cheat Customs Department by making claim of Rs.65 lakhs duty under DEEC scheme by issuing false inspection Report and clearing the export consignment of night gowns valued Rs.5.46 Crore. Places of search : Office and Residence of Accused persons. Detected/ Seizures made by the CBI : Incriminating documents and NSC/KVPs worth Rs.62,000/- 5 RC.28(A)/ 2004 ACB/KOL 1.Sh.P.C.Biswas, Superintendent,Ghodjadanga Land Customs Stations, 24 Parganas, West Bengal and other private persons. Brief Allegation : Cheated Customs Department for Rs.2 Crore as duty benefit under DEEC scheme by issuing false Inspection Report & clearing export consignment of non-alloy steel bars and wire rods valued Rs.5.02 Crore. Places of search : Office and Residence of the Accused. Detected/ Seizures made by the CBI : Incriminating documents. 6 RC.34(A)/ 2004 ACB/MUM Sh. Hemant Kothikar, Joint Commissioner of Customs, Exports, JNPT, NhavaSheva Brief Allegation : Possession of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. Places of search : Residence Premises of the Accused and his relatives. Detected/ Seizures made by the CBI : Assets worth Rs.3.87 Crore. 7 RC.14(A)/ 2004 GNR 1.Sh. A. Pereira, Assistant Commissioner. 2.Sh. P.S. Desai, Superintendent(Technical) 3.Sh. R.I. Patel, Superintendent 4.Sh. D.M. Julka, Superintendent 5.Smt. Deepika C. Patel, Inspector.All of Central Excise, Valsad Division. Gujarat. Brief Allegation : It is alleged that the accused persons in connivance with each other had deliberately overlooked the matter of M/s Shiv Metal Corporation of Dhola Pipla, Navsari (Gujarat) with regard to the export of finished goods on the basis of duty free import of copper for international market for the period 2002- 2003 thereby causing loss to the tune of Rs.13 crores to the Govt. Exchequer. The unit acquired the status of 100% EOU w.e.f. 24.1.2002. The said firm has no basic manufacturing equipment for the production of export oriented goods and has infact imported copper which were directly sold in the open market. Places of search : Residence premises of all the Accused persons. Detected/ Seizures made by the CBI : Incriminating documents. 8 RC.31(A)/ 2004 ACB/MUM 1. Sh. R.K. Agarwal, Commissioner of Central Excise, Panvel 2. Sh. A.K. Aswal,Assistant Commissioner, Central Excise, Panvel 3. Sh. Rajesh, CHA # Brief Allegation : It is alleged that the accused Shri R.K. Agarwal, Commissioner of Central Excise, Panvel demanded a bribe of Rs.50 lakh from the complainant who is the owner of an Export Unit. Subsequent to registration of the case, demand verification was conducted and on establishing veracity, a trap was laid. However, at the time of delivery, the accused Shri R.K. Agarwal instructed the complainant to deliver the money to a third party, which eventually did not materialize. However, as an offence under Prevention of Corruption Act was established during verification, so the CBI has taken up investigation and conducted searches. Places of search : Residence of Accused 1 & 3. Detected/ Seizures made by the CBI : Cash, movable/ immovable property worth Rs.11,70,000/- 9 RC.33(A)/ 2004 ACB/MUM Sh. P.K. Agarwal, the then Deputy Commissioner, Kalyan-1 Division., Central Excise, Thane Brief Allegation : Public servant conspired with accused private parties to cause wrongful gain to themselves and wrongful loss to Govt. of India. Revenue loss would be approximately Rs.15 Crore. Places of search : Residence of the Accused. Detected/ Seizures made by the CBI : Cash of Rs.5 lac (approx.) 10 RC.13(A)/ 2004 GWH 1.Sh. Dwipen Bania, Superintendent,Central Excise, Barpeta Road, Assam Brief Allegation : Possession of Assets disproportionate to his known sources of income to the tune of Rs.14,96,515/- approx. Places of search : Office and Residential premises. Detected/ Seizures made by the CBI : Value of Assets detected /recoveries made Rs.24,62,685/- (Approx.) # Sh. Rajesh, CHA is a private person and not a Customs/Central Excise Officer.