Patna: The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) will now monitor tenders issued by all government departments in Bihar as part of a move to curb irregularities in public procurement and financial transactions. A five-member team led by an SP-rank officer has been constituted to oversee the process.
Officials said departments will be required to inform the EOU before issuing any tenders so that the agency can keep track of the procedures and prevent possible irregularities.
EOU Superintendent of Police Pankaj Kumar said the unit is currently investigating cases related to illegal sand mining in 17 districts of the state. During the probe, officials found that several companies were granted approval in the mining software system by bypassing mandatory OTP authentication provisions in the tendering and related processes.
According to the EOU, these alleged irregularities resulted in a revenue loss of around Rs 325 crore to the state exchequer. In connection with illegal sand mining, 62 cases have been registered across the affected districts, all of which are currently under investigation by the EOU.
Kumar also said that between January and March this year, cases involving the confiscation of illegal assets worth about Rs 21 crore belonging to two individuals were transferred to the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Both cases are under process.
Apart from this, the EOU is probing a Rs 101 crore embezzlement case involving Awami Bank and Vaishali Cooperative Bank. One of the main accused, Santosh Kumar, a BSNL employee, has been arrested in connection with the case.
Earlier, three other accused—Syed Shahnabaz, Shaukat Ali and Rajnikant—had already been arrested during the investigation.
In another development, the EOU arrested Chandrashekhar Singh, a former sub-postmaster who had been absconding for 12 years in a case related to alleged financial irregularities involving a bank and the postal department. He was apprehended in January this year, officials said.
