The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized cash amounting to Rs 41 lakh, various incriminating documents and digital evidence during a search operation conducted at various locations in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Hyderabad in connection with the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) corruption case of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), ED said on Friday.
The agency’s Delhi Zonal Office made the recoveries during raids conducted on July 3.
ED initiated investigations based on the First Information Report (FIR) registered by Delhi’s Anti Corruption Branch against Euroteck Environmental Pvt Ltd and others under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, alleging scam in DJB in the name of augmentation and upgradation of 10 Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) at Pappankala, Nilothi (Package 1), Najafgarh, Keshopur (Package 2), Coronation Pillar, Narela, Rohini (Package 3) and Kondli (Package 4). The 4 tenders valuing Rs 1,943 crore were awarded to various Joint Venture entities in October 2022.
The FIR alleges that only three joint venture companies (JVs) participated in all four tenders. While 2 JVs got one tender each, one JV got two tenders. The three JVs participated in the four STP tenders mutually to ensure that each one got the tender. The FIR alleges that the tendering conditions were made restrictive, including the adoption of IFAS technology, to ensure that only a select few entities could participate in the four tenders.
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The cost estimate initially prepared was Rs 1,546 crore but was revised during the tender process to 1,943 crore, said the ED, adding “It is further alleged that the contracts were awarded to three JVs at inflated rates which caused substantive loss to the exchequer.”
ED investigation revealed that the four tenders related to STPs valuing Rs 1,943 crore were awarded by DJB to three JVs. “In all the four tenders, two JVs (out of three common JVs) participated in each tender and all three JVs secured the tenders. The costs adopted by DJB for upgradation and augmentation were same though the cost of upgradation is lesser than the cost for augmentation.”
Further investigations show that all three JVs submitted the same experience certificate issued from a Taiwan Project to DJB for securing the tenders and the same was accepted without any verifications.
Thereafter, the ED said all three JVs subcontracted the work related to the four tenders to Euroteck Environment Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad. “The verification of the tender documents shows that the initial cost of four tenders was about Rs 1,546 crore which was revised to Rs 1,943 crore without following due process and project reports” said the federal agency.
(WITH INPUTS FROM ANI)
