Bengaluru Senior BJP leader B Sriramulu on Thursday alleged that the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation is cheating government and bank officials caught out of honey to misappropriate money.
The former minister claimed that high-end luxury cars were bought with money meant for the welfare of tribal people. The money was laundered and used in different elections, including the Lok Sabha election, he further claimed.
"The fraudsters bought a Lamborghini car with funds from Valmiki Corporation, diverted money through 'hawala' channels and spent it on elections," Sriramulu said at a press conference here.
Former minister Narasimha Nayak (Raju Gowda) alleged that the state government played a dubious role in the scam.
"We all know that more than three crore rupees cannot be transferred without the approval of the Finance Secretary, but in a single day Rs 50 crore was transferred. It is surprising that no one in the government knew about it," Nayak said.
According to the BJP leader, the money was transferred to the accounts of 16 businessmen. The amount transferred ranged between Rs 4.12 million and Rs 5.98 million.
Both BJP leaders demanded the arrest of Congress MLA B Nagendra, who resigned as Tribal Welfare Minister after the scam came to light.
The alleged scam was uncovered when the Corporation's Superintendent of Accounts, Chandrasekharan P, took his own life on May 26 and left a suicide note alleging that a sum of Rs 187 million had been illegally transferred from the corporation.
This includes Rs 88.62 crore illegally credited in various accounts of some IT companies and a Hyderabad-based cooperative bank, according to official sources.
Later, the Congress government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), which has so far arrested 11 people in connection with the case.
The SIT has questioned Nagendra and Corporation Chairman Basanagouda Daddal.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate, a central government agency, on Wednesday raided several places in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana allegedly linked to Nagendra and Daddal.
The former minister claimed that high-end luxury cars were bought with money meant for the welfare of tribal people. The money was laundered and used in different elections, including the Lok Sabha election, he further claimed.
"The fraudsters bought a Lamborghini car with funds from Valmiki Corporation, diverted money through 'hawala' channels and spent it on elections," Sriramulu said at a press conference here.
Former minister Narasimha Nayak (Raju Gowda) alleged that the state government played a dubious role in the scam.
"We all know that more than three crore rupees cannot be transferred without the approval of the Finance Secretary, but in a single day Rs 50 crore was transferred. It is surprising that no one in the government knew about it," Nayak said.
According to the BJP leader, the money was transferred to the accounts of 16 businessmen. The amount transferred ranged between Rs 4.12 million and Rs 5.98 million.
Both BJP leaders demanded the arrest of Congress MLA B Nagendra, who resigned as Tribal Welfare Minister after the scam came to light.
The alleged scam was uncovered when the Corporation's Superintendent of Accounts, Chandrasekharan P, took his own life on May 26 and left a suicide note alleging that a sum of Rs 187 million had been illegally transferred from the corporation.
This includes Rs 88.62 crore illegally credited in various accounts of some IT companies and a Hyderabad-based cooperative bank, according to official sources.
Later, the Congress government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), which has so far arrested 11 people in connection with the case.
The SIT has questioned Nagendra and Corporation Chairman Basanagouda Daddal.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate, a central government agency, on Wednesday raided several places in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana allegedly linked to Nagendra and Daddal.
