Jet PF scam: CBI steps in

The Central Bureau of Investigation has taken cognisance of middayrsquos expose on the alleged scam at EPFOrsquos Kandivli office in connection with the PF settlement of former employees of Jet Airways particularly expat pilots With sources in Delhi pegging the alleged embezzlement at hundreds of crores a CBI officer got in touch with midday to gather crucial pieces of information hours after this newspaperrsquos August 20 reportThe Kandivli office of the Employeesrsquo Provident Fund Organisation EPFO has so far suspended one employee for taking bribes in connection with the Jet Airways case while Sudhir Ganvir regional provident fund commissioner RO Kandivli has been accused of trying to suppress the matterldquoWe have taken suo motu action and have been tracking middayrsquos stories At present we are working on it We are talking to people whom you had referred tordquo said a senior CBI officer requesting anonymity Sources said CBI has demanded from EPFO officials certified copies of PFrelated documents of Jet Airways The central agency has also contacted EPFOrsquos central board of trustees to take stock of the situationAlso read Jet PF row Is a coverup underwayEPFOrsquos Kandivli office is under a scam cloud PicNimesh DaveSources at EPFO said those involved in the graft are trying to hush up the matter and may tamper with the evidence ldquoWe are in the process of searching and collecting pieces of evidence so that a First Information Report FIR can be registered Then we can conduct a thorough investigationrdquo said the CBI officerThough he didnrsquot rule out potential attempts to destroy the evidence the CBI officer said ldquoBut see today everything is online The details of Jet employees will be available online We can get the entire details like the number of Jet Airways employees including international as well as domestic workers who how much and when was the Jet employee paid how much is the pendency etc will be scannedrdquo the CBI officer said ldquoAnd if we get any traces of destruction of evidence a fresh case will be filed against those involvedrdquo The CBI officer said they are trying to ascertain if the PF officials and Jet executives have discharged their duty properly or fudged the PF accounts of pilots and crew members of the airlineThe intervention by EPFOrsquos Chief Vigilance Officer Jitendra Khare will ensure that the matter is not hushed up said the CBI officer ldquoIf the CVO has been roped in to conduct an inquiry it signifies that somebody must have complained to senior officials at EPFO And it was the reason that one person Senior Social Security Assistant Machindra Bamne has been suspendedrdquo said the CBI officer adding ldquoThere is no smoke without a firehellipwe do smell some fishy work at their Kandivli office We are working on itrdquoWhy this administrative lagA source at EPFO said the case should have been handed over to the CBI immediately after authorities at EPFO Kandivli suspended Bamne on August 18 ldquoWhy is there an administrative delay in handing over the sensitive matter of international workers of Jet Airways to CBI The CVO should have handed over the case to the Central agencyrdquo said the sourceCentral Board of Trustees member Prabhakar Banasure said ldquoI have written to Chief Provident Fund Commissioner Neelam Shami Rao to hand over the case to CBI but she was not available last week as she sounded busy in a national conference I am going to ask her this week regarding my letter to herrdquo Banasure told midday He said if huge amounts of money was found in Bamnersquos personal bank account why Ganvir isnrsquot registering an FIR against him ldquoWhy the CVO is not handing over Bamnersquos case to CBIrdquoldquoBeing the commissioner Sudhir Ganvir is the controlling authority at the regional office of PF at Kandivli Why is he still holding the coveted position at an office where a multicrore PF scam surfaced under his nose and one senior security assistant was suspendedrdquo wondered another EPFO source at the national capitalWill Jet pilots get reliefA senior EPFO official from Delhi said the social security body will have to use its special reserve fund SRF to help Jetrsquos expat pilots whose PF money was siphoned off by PF officials at Kandivli ldquoSee if the EPFO has failed to recover the PF amount of Jet pilots from their employer due to the alleged malpractices adopted at Kandivli office it will be the responsibility of the department to immediately deposit the amount in the PF accounts of Jet employees from SRFrdquoThe CBI officer said a new class of employees called lsquointernational workersrsquo was created by bringing an amendment to the PF rules effective October 1 2008 The investigating agency will have to retrieve huge amount of data of international workers at Jet Airways from the Foreigners Regional Registration Office FRRO from October 2008 onwardsldquoI have been reading Jet pilotsrsquo grievances in midday So a thorough forensic audit of all the accounts should be done immediately to use the report as a crucial piece of evidence in the courtrdquo the officer added