Bengaluru Police Register Case Over Alleged COVID-19 Management Scam

Bengaluru: A case was registered at the Vidhana Soudha Police Station on Friday in connection with alleged irregularities in COVID-19 management.

The case was registered on a complaint by Medical Education Department Chief Accounts Officer Dr M Vishnu Prasad against Dr PG Girish, government officer Raghu GP, a non-gazetted officer in the Health and Family Welfare Muniraju N, two firms Laj Exports, Prudent Management Solutions, unknown public representatives, government officers and others.

Prasad in his complaint said that during the Covid-19 pandemic, Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement (KTPP) was misused while buying N95 Masks, Personal Protection Equipments (PPE) kits and other materials which were essential for the prevention of COVID-19 through the Medical Education Department and defrauded all the processes of the law.

The government officers along with other individuals connived and collected these essential materials and misappropriated hundreds of crores of rupees in the name of COVID management, he said.

The action was taken on the basis of the recommendations of an inquiry panel headed by Justice John Michael D'Cunha, who said that large-scale corruption has taken place in the COVID management.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah too had said a few weeks ago that the government would get the COVID-19-related irregularities investigated.