Rehabilitation minister takes revenge from officials against corrupt deals!
Jul 24, 2016
Officials who do not support corrupt deals at the prison reforms and rehabilitation ministry are being avenged. Two assistant secretaries, one male and the other a female, have been transferred to the pool for refusing to approve a Rs. 45 million payment for the building obtained on rent to house the ministry. Also, the accountant has been transferred for refusing to make payments.
These officials had refused to approve and make the payments as the building had been obtained at a high price through a tender deal. In September 2015, subject minister D.M. Swaminathan sanctioned the calling of tenders to choose a building to house the ministry. The lowest bid had been made for a building at Sangharaja Mawatha in Maradana. Also, the tender board received an offer in lieu of the building which previously housed the FCID.
The building had been given to the FCID at Rs. 100 per square feet. However, even without considering acquiring the building at Sangharaja Mawatha, the building which previously housed the FCID was obtained at Rs. 140 per square feet.
However the building lacks vehicle parking facilities. That is one reason for the FCID being taken to another place.
But, in the end, the tender board approved this building by the name Carville at the insistence of minister Swaminathan. A sum of Rs. 45 million had to be paid as the rent. The two assistant secretaries had refused to approve the payment, as there was a lower bidder. Had they sanctioned the payment, they would have been the ones who would have faced all the charges. The accountant sought court redress, and in the end his transfer was annulled by courts. Since ministry officials refuse to release the payment, Swaminathan ordered chairmen of institutions coming under his ministry to immediately make the payment. Most of these institutions are located for the benefit of the helpless masses in the north and the east battered by the war. What happened was that the Rs. 45 million intended for their welfare had gone to pay for a building to house the ministry.
