Odisha EOW Arrests 2 For Rs 35 Cr Fraud In Iron Ore Loading In Keonjhar

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha arrested two persons of an agency engaged in iron ore loading over alleged fraud and misappropriation of more than Rs 35 crore.

The accused, identified as Manas Ranjan Barik, Ex-President and Utkal Das, Secretary of Gandhamardhan Loading Agency & Transporting Cooperative Society Ltd, were arrested from Suakati in Keonjhar district, EOW said in a statement. The two will be produced before the designated court under OPID Act at Balasore.

The case was registered on the written allegation of one Biswanath Roul about alleged fraud and misappropriation of Rs 40 to 50 crore by the office bearers of Gandhamardhan Loading Agency & Transporting Cooperative Society Ltd, engaged in loading iron ore from the mines area of OMC, by using forged documents.

Investigation revealed that Gandhamardhan Loading Agency & Transporting Cooperative Society Ltd., Suakati, Keonjhar, registered in 2006, was engaged in loading of iron ores from the mines in Keonjhar with the objectives of the economic betterment of the inhabitants of the mining affected areas from the profit made by the Society. Over the years from 2017-18 to 2023 24, the operation of the Society was monopolised by a handful of influential outsiders including the office bearers who by entering into a criminal conspiracy and manufacturing false documents pertaining to the labour payment, periphery development, infrastructural expenses, payment to the affected members, EPF deductions etc., misappropriated crores of rupees.

It was found that the Cooperative Society used to charge exorbitantly for loading iron ores i.e. Rs.60/- per ton from the buyer agencies which is abnormally higher than any other loading agency. In this way, the Cooperative Society was profiting a lot over the years and was going on increasing the loading charge every year.

Besides, the Cooperative Society had been showing payment to different persons, agencies etc. in the name of different expenses without any supporting instruments like tender, work order, UC, vouchers etc. Surprisingly, the payments shown to have been made to different executants do not find place in the concerned registers like cash book, day book, ledger, attendance book etc. Most of the payments amounting to crores have been made through cash, self-cheques without any payment acknowledgement. The narration of the payment is nowhere available. Without specifying the nature of work, name of the project, name of the executant, measurement work, approvals etc., payments have been made only to siphon off the profit of the Cooperative Society.

The office bearers as found have spent/diverted the money against the mandate of the by-laws of the Society. There has not been any audit of the Cooperative Society since 2012 excepting for a special audit held in the year 2022 basing on some local allegations. Although, serious irregularities were found during the audit yet no action was initiated/taken against the erring office bearers. As found, almost all self-cheques issued without any narration of the work for which the same were issued, have been signed by the arrested President and Secretary who don’t justify their issuing such cheques for crores of rupees in favour of a numbered persons. As regards the labour payment, there are no details of the labourers, adequate signature of the labourers for taking the payment, proportionate EPF deduction etc. which suggests massive misappropriation of money in the labour payment.

There have been lot of unaccounted for payments in the name of different persons, and the payment acknowledgement under purported thumb impression is highly suspicious. Investigation showed that Manas and Utkal, having entered into a criminal conspiracy with the office bearers and influential outsiders, have done the financial irregularities and misappropriated more than Rs 35 crore, the EOW said.

The figure may go up in the future investigation. During investigation, many incriminating registers, ledgers, vouchers, resolution books, special audit report, labour payment sheets etc. have been seized. The investigation of the case is underway.