Former PWD chief engineer 2 pvt firms' owners arrested for corruption in Delhi hospitals

New Delhi, Jul 26 (PTI) A former chief engineer of PWD and owners of two private firms were arrested by the Anti-Corruption Branch in connection with corruption in Delhi government-run hospitals during the Covid pandemic, an officer said on Friday.
     According to Joint Commissioner of Police (ACB) Madhur Verma, the officials of Public Work Department allegedly paid the private firms for no work or incomplete work against fake bills that led to a loss of around Rs 200 crore to the exchequer.
     Anil Kumar Ahuja, a former ADG and then chief engineer (health zone) of PWD, and Vinay Kumar and Akshitiz Birmani, owners of AV Enterprises and Vivek Associates, were identified as accused.
     The three were booked under the sections of Prevention of Corruption Act and arrested on Thursday, the officer said.
     Working on a complaint, the ACB scrutinised various work awarded to different private firms and contractors for work in Delhi government hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
     During investigation, the unit found that Ahuja allegedly approved 56 works that were subsequently awarded to 10 firms without having made a distinction between 'Emergent' and 'Urgent Work'.
     Certificates that such awards must have spawned were found missing from the files.
     When asked, the alleged firm owners failed to provide E-Way bills (transportation bills) for the material purchased to execute the work, Verma said.
     The firm owners produced material purchase invoices issued 4-6 months after the completion of the work.
     Upon scrutiny of the purchase vouchers filed by the alleged companies, it was revealed that certain voucher issuing firms did not exist, he said.
     The officer said, in certain cases, calling of spot quotations, comparison of bids, and awarding of tenders happened in a single day, which could not be possible, especially when the country was under a lockdown.
     The ACB also unearthed forgery in spot quotations from the examination of the bidders, the officer said.
     Financial transactions worth around Rs 1.25 crore surfaced between Ahuja and AV Entreprises owner Vinay Kumar.
     It was also found that Kumar transferred Rs 6 lakh in the personal account of Ahuja's daughter-in-law in December 2020.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)