HC Breather For Ex-IAS Vinod Kumar In Odisha Rural Loan Fraud Case

Cuttack: Orissa High Court on Thursday granted bail to former IAS officer Vinod Kumar who was convicted by the Special Vigilance Court in connection with a loan fraud case in Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC).

Accepting his petition challenging the verdict of the Special Vigilance Court, the HC directed the lower court to fix the bail conditions.

The High Court also issued a stay on the vigilance court’s order imposing penalty on him in the rural housing loan fraud case.

Yesterday, the HC had granted bail to another convict, realter and Metro Builders Director Peeyush Dhari Mohanty while accepting his petition against the Vigilance Court’s order sentencing him to three years of imprisonment in the case.

On September 29, the court in Bhubaneswar had found Congress MLA Md Moquim, former IAS officer and MD ORHDC Vinod Kumar, Mohanty and Company Secretary Swosti Ranjan Mohapatra guilty of showing undue official favour, criminal misconduct, forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy and obtaining pecuniary advantage for Metro Builders Pvt Ltd by releasing funds in the guise of loans meant for the rural poor.

On October 19,  the HC stayed the Special Vigilance Court verdict pertaining to the Cuttack-Barabati MLA in connection with the rural housing scam after the 1999 Super Cyclone in Odisha and posted the next hearing for February 22, 2023.

Moquim was the former managing director of Metro Builders Pvt Ltd, which was allegedly sanctioned a term loan of Rs 1.5 crore from the state PSU for its Metro City-II project without the approval of the board of directors of ORHDC or the loan committee.

Moquim, however, got instant relief and was not sent to jail after the conviction. As per law, a trial court that sentences a person to three years imprisonment can give him/her instant bail.

The 1989-batch IAS officer was dismissed from service on charges of corruption in February this year. As MD of ORHDC in 1999, he had sanctioned housing funds to the tune of Rs 33.34 crore through unfair means when rural housing was taken up on a big scale after the Super Cyclone. He was also accused of granting loans to real estate firms/contractors and NGOs without verifying house construction/reconstruction. The basic norms of inspection, verification and collaterals were flouted in the disbursal of loans during 2000-01, sources said.