Karnataka Covid-19 scam: Panel recommends recovery of Rs 187.91 crore from government entities
Bengaluru: The Justice John Michael D'Cunha Commission, appointed to investigate alleged irregularities in Karnataka's Covid-19 procurement, has recommended the recovery of Rs 187.91 crore from three government entities and the initiation of criminal proceedings against several officials for lapses. Notices were issued to the National Health Mission (NHM) mission director, the director and chief engineer of the Health and Family Welfare Department, and the Karnataka State Medical Supplies Corporation (KSMSCL) managing director for explanations regarding discrepancies, including 16 missing files and irregularities in civil works for 50 oxygen generation plants.
The report, based on four Covid-19 procurement investigation reports handed over to the Health Department, highlights a total expenditure of Rs 5,124 crore by the NHM, Health and Family Welfare Department, and KSMSCL during the pandemic, of which Rs 187.91 crore requires recovery. The commission recommended inquiries or criminal proceedings in 85 cases, citing violations of the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements (KTPP) Act and other lapses.
Notices were also prepared for 456 suppliers due to contractual breaches, delays, quality concerns, and financial discrepancies. The department has proposed forming a team of seven officials, including a senior KAS officer, to handle action based on the commission’s findings, which includes setting up a separate office to frame charges, issue notices, record objections, and oversee the recovery process.
The report criticises the NHM mission director’s decision to outsource testing to private labs, calling it arbitrary, non-transparent, and designed to favour certain labs over fair competition. The NHM office retained Rs 3 crore from the Emergency Covid Response Package (ECRP) funds, with a portion allocated to private labs without the necessary technical capacity assessments. Payments totalling Rs 4.28 crore were reportedly made to labs for RT-PCR testing without administrative approval, in violation of the government’s temporary regulations prohibiting private labs from Covid-19 testing.
The commission's findings are now under review for further action by the Karnataka Health Department.
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None of Adani portfolio companies subject to any legal case: Group CFO on promoter indictment in US
New Delhi, Nov 23: None of Adani group portfolio companies, comprising 11 listed firms, have been accused of any wrongdoing, conglomerate's CFO Jugeshinder Robbie Singh said on founder and chairman Gautam Adani's indictment on bribery charges in the US.
In a post on X, Singh said the group would make a detailed comment on the US indictment once it gets counsel approvals.
Adani and seven other defendants, including his nephew Sagar Adani, allegedly agreed to pay about USD 265 million in bribes to Indian government officials between approximately 2020 and 2024 to obtain lucrative solar energy supply contracts on terms that were expected to yield USD 2 billion of profit over 20 years, according to an indictment unsealed in a New York court on Wednesday.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of the US has also charged Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, executives of Adani Green Energy Ltd and Cyril Cabanes, an executive of Azure Power Global, for "conduct arising out of a massive bribery scheme".
"There is a lot of news and reports that will try to pick unrelated items and create a headline. My humble request is that we will respond in the fullness of time once we review in detail the matter as presented in the legal filing," Singh said.
He hastened to add that no court has ruled on the indictment, and as outlined by lawyers of the US Department of Justice, these are "allegations and the accused have a presumption of innocence".
The CFO, who was the first line of defence when US short-seller Hindenburg Research had accused the ports-to-power conglomerate of fraud in January 2023, said the group became aware of the "specificity" of the US indictment against founder and chairman Gautam Adani two days ago.
"We were aware that something is afoot (and in February 2024 144a offering circular in Risk Factors we disclosed as such. This was the first public issuance of any of our portfolio companies or their subsidiaries or joint venture companies after our annual results of 31st March 2023)," he said.
He, however, did not state what the company had disclosed in February 2024.
Adani Group, he said, has a portfolio of 11 public companies and "none are subject to indictment (i.e. defendants in any legal proceedings in the recent DOJ lawyer filings to a court in NYC)".
"None of the issuers (i.e. companies in our portfolio or specific issuers that are subsidiaries of the public companies) are accused of any wrongdoing in the said legal filing," he said.
The indictment "relates to one contract of Adani Green, which is roughly 10 per cent of overall business of Adani Green (there is a lot more precise and comprehensive detail of this which we will elaborate in an appropriate forum)," he said.
The statement comes two days after Gautam Adani was charged by US prosecutors over his role in an alleged years-long scheme to pay USD 265 million (about RS 2,200 crore) bribes to Indian officials to secure solar energy contracts. The conglomerate has denied the allegations, calling them baseless, and announced plans to seek legal recourse.
The Adani Family has 11 listed entities on the Indian stock exchanges - flagship incubator Adani Enterprises Ltd, electricity producer Adani Power Ltd, ports company Adani Ports & SEZ, power transmission firm Adani Energy Solutions Limited, renewable arm Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL), city gas distributor Adani Total Gas Ltd, commodities firm Adani Wilmar Ltd, media firm New Delhi Television Ltd and cement companies Ambuja Cements Limited, ACC Ltd, and Sanghi Industries Ltd.
"There is a lot of news and reports that will try to pick unrelated items and create a headline. My humble request is that we will respond in the fullness of time once we review in detail the matter as presented in the legal filing (Please note that no court has ruled on this and as outlined by lawyers of DOJ these are 'allegations and accused have a presumption of innocence'). We will make a more detailed comment once we get counsel approvals to discuss what we can in public on a matter that is sub-judice," he added.
