New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s nephew Vinay Bansal, who was arrested by the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) Thursday in connection with the PWD scam, was a 50 per cent stakeholder in the firm that was allegedly involved in financial irregularities in building a drainage system in north-west Delhi, ACB sources claimed here.
They also rebutted AAP government’s claim that a third party audit had cleared the project and said that four PWD officials had colluded with the company in the alleged wrongdoing.
Bansal, son of Kejriwal’s late brother-in-law Surendra Bansal, was arrested Thursday morning from his residence in north-west Delhi’s Pitampura.
During questioning, he was evasive and had claimed that he was not an active partner in Renu Constructions, they said.
“It was found that he has 50 per cent shares in the firms and the records, agreements, acceptance of measurements, bills, etc, were signed by him,” the ACB sources claimed.
There was some other correspondence like request of approval of drawings that had his signatures, it is alleged.
The partnership agreement (signed between the PWD and Renu Constructions) before the award of work was signed by the father-son duo, an ACB source claimed.
The investigation of the ACB revealed that Bansal’s firm Renu Constructions had procured steel and cement from a firm named M/s Mahadev Impex. However, it was found that the firm does not exist.
The Central Public Works Department’s opinion was sought by the ACB to conduct quality checks of the works done by the company in May last year and the CPWD had submitted its report in December.
In its report, the CPWD said, “There was no vehicle number (vehicles used for trasportation of raw materials) mentioned in the invoices and bills submitted by the firm. There was no mention of make of cement or brand of the cement mentioned in the records.”
Apart from the details of the steel used in the construction work, records of other raw materials were not mentioned.
Earlier, defending Bansal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had claimed that IIT Roorkee had done a third party audit of the drainage system project in question under the terms of the contract and submitted a report. “After the complaint, the ACB also did a separate inquiry by Sri Ram Labs which also said the work was satisfactory,” he had said.
However, the ACB sources said that the ultrasound velocity test and Rebound Jammer tests that were carried out by Shriram Institute for Industrial Research to check the quality of work found it “unsatisfactory”.
They also claimed that the MoU signed between PWD and IIT-Roorkee for the third-party audit was not there in the records.
The investigation also found “the collusion of four PWD officials” who were also questioned in the matter, they said.
The PWD had estimated the project cost to be around Rs 4,90,36,843 crore but the firm had bid for an amount of Rs 2,64,50,473 crore and the project was completed at a cost of Rs 3,10,09,533 crore.
“The internal quality assurance team of PWD did not inspect the work despite the tender being 46 per cent of the estimated cost. Prima facie, PWD officials deliberately overlooked checking the construction quality to favour the contractor for undue pecuniary gains,” the ACB source said.
The company started work March 17, 2015 and was required to complete it July 14, 2015 with the provision of a penalty of Rs 20,000 being levied per month for the delay.
The ACB found that even though the construction work was completed on November 23, 2015, no penalty was levied.
Three FIRs, including one against a company run by the chief minister’s brother-in-law Surender Bansal, were registered by the ACB in the PWD scam case May 9 last year.
Three companies, including Renu Constructions (owned by Bansal, Kamal Singh and Pawan Kumar), were included in the FIRs.
In a complaint, Rahul Sharma, founder of Roads Anti-Corruption Organisation (RACO), had alleged that Kejriwal and PWD minister Satyendra Jain misused their office for grant of contracts to Bansal. However, they were not named in the FIR.
RACO, an organisation which claims to monitor construction projects in the national capital, had alleged that a firm linked to Bansal was involved in financial irregularities in building a drainage system in north-west Delhi.
It was also alleged that the bills sent to the Public Works Department (PWD) for unfinished works were “false and fabricated”. – PTI
