Council to take call on scam probe

BANGALORE: Deputy Mayor S Harish and Ruling Party Leader B R Nanjundappa said that the next general body meeting of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will decide whether the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) will be allowed to probe the controversial Rs 1,539 crore scam.Addressing a joint news conference here on Friday, they said the general body meeting will be held on November 29 and 30 where the members would decide the matter. “BBMP Commissioner Siddaiah should have informed the Council before asking the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force to investigate the scam. Even if it was an emergency decision, he should have informed the Council once the decision was taken. Now the Council will take a call on the probe,” they explained.The Deputy Mayor clarified that the documents related to the multicrore scam are safe and intact. The ones destroyed due to the fire last week belonged to BMTF’s investigations of scams in BBMP between 1999 and 2004, he noted.When asked whether the ongoing investigation could be stalled, Harish said that the Council along with the Mayor will be the ‘ultimate deciding authority’.Refuting the Opposition’s allegations that the BMTF office was set on fire to scuttle the investigations into the scam, he claimed that documents are safe and even listed some of the documents that have been burnt. According to him, the ones that have been destroyed belonged to the computer scam in the Social Welfare Department amounting to around Rs 63 crore, a scam related to Solid Waste Management and two cases related to a cheque bounce. The Deputy Mayor also added that BBMP  will make serious efforts to upgrade the security measures at its complex. “There will be zero tolerance security with efficient CCTV cameras. We will also implement e-governance so that documents are available in digital format,” he said.Opposition Leader M Udayashankar criticized the Deputy Mayor by saying that the BBMP should have taken action on the documents relating to scams between 1999 and 2004.  “Why have they not acted on the investigation of scams between 1999 and 2004,” he asked.