Reacting over the Rs 590 crore IDFC First Bank scam, the Haryana Congress party has demanded the state government to conduct a comprehensive investigation into other government departments.
Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee president Rao Narender Singh has termed the latest revelations in the CBI chargesheet regarding the scam as serious. He also called upon the government to issue a White Paper on the matter.
“We demand the Haryana government not to limit its probe to this single case but conduct a comprehensive investigation into all government departments, boards, corporations and autonomous bodies regarding the manner in which public funds were deposited in various banks,” he said.
Rao Narender Singh said the CBI chargesheet reveals that crores of rupees belonging to Haryana government departments were allegedly transferred to other accounts and that financial procedures were manipulated at multiple levels to evade audits.
“If such a large-scale irregularity was possible, the government must clarify whether all other departments complied with the prescribed financial rules, RBI guidelines, and government procedures while depositing public funds in banks,” he said.
Safeguarding taxpayers’ money is the government’s foremost responsibility. Therefore, the government should make public which department deposited how much money in which bank, under what rules and approvals those deposits were made, and whether all prescribed financial and administrative procedures were duly followed.
“If the government truly believes in transparency and accountability, it should immediately issue a detailed White Paper,” he said.
The document should disclose the bank deposits made by all government departments, boards, and corporations, the approval process followed, compliance with applicable rules, and the names of officials or individuals found responsible wherever irregularities have occurred.
This issue appears to be not confined to a single bank or one department but concerns the credibility of the entire public financial management system.
Therefore, instead of indulging in political rhetoric, the government must ensure strict action against all those responsible so that public confidence is restored and such financial irregularities involving public money are never repeated in the future, he said.
