ACB wants you to give info on foreign trips by govt officials this summer, says it will help net the corrupt ones

DANISH KHAN

Do you know of any bureaucrat, police officer or any other government official going on a foreign trip this summer? If the answer's yes, get in touch with the Anti-Corruption Bureau immediately. That's the message the ACB has sent to Mumbaikars in what it calls its attempt to net "big fish" involved in corruption. The Bureau has already dashed off 40,000 emails to ordinary Mumbaikars through a nongovernmental organisation asking them to write in and assuring them that their identity will be kept a secret.

Examining expenditure for foreign travel undertaken by a government official with or without his family, the ACB feels, will help it find out just much money was spent and whether it was within the offical's known sources of income. In case the Bureau feels the official, generally with family in tow, has incurred too much expenditure, it can begin discreet inquiries, ACB officials said.

"We have asked people to provide specific information about expenses incurred by bureaucrats, cops and other state officials on foreign holidays which are way beyond their means and sources of income, so that we can investigate such cases," Hemant Karkare, Inspector-General of Police, ACB, said.

Officials at the NGO Karmayog, through with ACB is sending its emails, believe this will ensure the big fish come under the scanner. The ACB generally traps bribetakers when those forced to give bribes lodge complaints. However, corruption at the highest level does not take place this way.

There is more often than not a mutual understanding between giver and taker, so information on corruption is not easy to obtain. However, data about foreign travel can give the ACB a good idea of what an officer is up to and can thus be the proverbial needle of suspicion that points in the right direction," Vinay Somani of Karmayog said. Pravin Patil, an inspector with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), was suspended in February this year for travelling abroad with his family on a vacation. Investigations revealed that the trip was financed by an accused in a securities scam that Patil was investigating. The ACB has also made it clear that unlike in bribe-trap cases, where the complainant's identity does not remain a secret, tip-offs on travel can be given even without disclosing one's identity.

EDUCATION EXPENSE

The ACB has also asked people to send in information on government officials who are seen spending a lot of money on admissions or donations at the start of the academic year in June. Like foreign travel, this expenditure too would reveal a lot of things," Somani said.

Publication : Mumbai Mirror; Section : Front; Date : 30/4/07
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