ED questions Azharuddin for over 9 hours in money laundering case
Hyderabad, Oct 8: The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday questioned former Indian cricket team captain and Congress leader Mohammed Azharuddin for over nine hours in a money laundering case linked to alleged financial irregularities in the Hyderabad Cricket Association, official sources said.
The federal agency recorded his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.
The 61-year-old former MP was first asked to depose before the ED on October 3 but he sought deferment of the notice and asked for a fresh date. The agency subsequently issued him fresh summons to appear on October 8.
Dressed in a white kurta-pyjama, Azharuddin reached the ED office on Fateh Maidan Road around 11 am. He left the ED office after 9 pm.
He told reporters while exiting that he was "cooperating" with the investigation.
"All the allegations which have been made were baseless, frivolous and done with a malafide intention. Beyond that I have nothing more to say. I don't want to go into the details...," he said.
The probe is related to alleged financial irregularities in the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA). The ED had conducted searches in connection with the irregularities in November last year.
Azharuddin's role during his tenure as the HCA president is under the scanner of the agency, the sources had said.
The former Indian skipper had unsuccessfully contested the Telangana Assembly polls held last year.
Following the registration of a case in connection with the alleged irregularities by the Telangana Police last year, he had said that the allegations levelled against him were "false" and "motivated" and it was "just a stunt" pulled by his rivals to ruin his reputation.
The money laundering case stems from three FIRs and charge sheets filed by the Telangana Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in connection with alleged criminal misappropriation of funds of the HCA to the tune of Rs 20 crore.
One such police FIR was registered on the complaint of the HCA Chief Executive Officer Suneel Kante Bose after a forensic audit (interim report) found that certain transactions done on behalf of the HCA with third-party vendors were found to be "not genuine" and that the transactions were carried out in a manner "detrimental" to the interest of the association.
The police charge sheets contain "allegations of serious irregularities in the procurement of DG sets, firefighting systems and canopies for the Rajiv Gandhi Cricket Stadium constructed in Uppal, Hyderabad," the ED had earlier said in a statement.
According to the charge sheets, despite deadlines, several works were delayed inordinately, leading to escalated costs and budget enhancements and corresponding losses to the HCA.
It was found that the office bearers of the HCA, including its then secretary, president and vice-president and others, in collusion with private parties, "arbitrarily" got various tenders and works allotted to preferred vendors/contractors at higher than market rates without following proper tender processes and in many cases even before the receipt of quotations, the agency had alleged.
Advance payments were made to many contractors but no work was done by them, it added.
The ED had raided the premises of former office bearers of the HCA, including former vice president and cricketer Shivlal Yadav, Congress MLA and ex-HCA president Gaddam Vinod, former HCA secretary Arshad Ayub apart from the office of a company called S S Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and the residential premises of its managing director Satyanarayana.
The ED had said its raids undertaken last year led to the seizure of digital devices, "incriminating" documents and "unaccounted" cash of Rs 10.39 lakh.
One of the observations made in the forensic report was that "Mohammad Azharuddin, the then President of the Association in the 9th Apex Council meeting held on March 3, 2021 had sought to take up discussions regarding firefighting equipment. However, subsequently without assigning any reasons, the tender was not allotted to any of the bidders. Thereafter, the HCA had floated a second tender for the same work." Azharuddin is a Padma Shri and Arjuna Award recipient. He began his political innings with a win from Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad Lok Sabha seat in 2009. He is also a working president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC).
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'Low-quality' catheters supplied to West Bengal govt hospitals at high price, probe ordered
Kolkata (PTI): The West Bengal health department has launched a probe into the supplies of allegedly low-quality and locally made catheters at a high price to several government hospitals, posing a risk to the lives of patients undergoing treatment in these facilities, officials said.
Such central venous catheters (CVCs) were allegedly supplied to at least five medical colleges and hospitals in the state, defying allocation of international standard-compliant CVCs, they said.
The distribution company, which has been accused of supplying these catheters to government hospitals, admitted to the fault but placed the blame on its employees.
"We started checking stocks some time back and found these locally made CVCs in my hospital store. These catheters are of low quality as compared to those allocated by the state. We have informed the state health department," a senior official of the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital told PTI.
Low-quality catheters were also found in the stores of other hospitals, which indicates "possible involvement of insiders in the scam", a health department official said.
The low-quality CVCs were supplied by a distributor in the Hatibagan area in the northern part of Kolkata for the last three to four months, he said.
"Such kinds of local CVCs are priced around Rs 1,500 but the distributor took Rs 4,177 for each device," the official said.
A CVC is a thin and flexible tube that is inserted into a vein to allow for the administration of fluids, blood, and other treatment. It's also clinically called a central line catheter.
"An initial probe revealed that the distribution company Prakash Surgical had supplied the low-quality and locally manufactured catheters to several government hospitals instead of the CVCs of the government-designated international company.
"All the units will be tested and a proper investigation is on to find out who benefited from these supplies," the health department official said.
The distribution company blamed its employees for the supply of inferior quality catheters.
"I was sick for a few months. Some employees of the organisation made this mistake. We are taking back all those units that have gone to the hospitals. It's all about misunderstanding," an official of the distribution company told PTI.
According to another state health department official, a complaint was lodged with the police in this connection.
Asked about how many patients were affected by the usage of such low-quality CVCs, the official said, "The probe would also try to find that out".
According to sources in the health department, some of the staff of the hospitals' equipment receiving departments and some local officials of international organisations might be involved in the alleged irregularities.
