Two held in multi-million rupee coal scam
By IANSFriday, July 2, 2010
BHUBANESWAR - Two senior officials of a state-run company were arrested in Orissa Friday on charges of being involved in a multi-million rupee scam, police said.
The vigilance department arrested Orissa Small Industries Corporation’s general manager S.K. Satpathy and manager S.K. Mohapatra at Cuttack, 26 km from here, after it found that thousands of tonnes of coal were supplied to companies that did not exist.
OSIC procures coal from the state industry department at subsidised prices and supplies it to small scale industries for their use.
However, the officials sold the coal in the open market, Superintendent of Police (vigilance) Devadutta Patnaik told IANS.
“By doing this, they have done irregularities of about Rs.1 crore,” he said.
“We have also registered graft cases against 12 more officials, including an IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officer, for their involvement in the irregularities,” he said.
