NEERI, the name of one of the top-notch research institutions in India has come forward in a payment fraud of crores of rupees to dummy companies.
According to the information, the employees of NEERI are involved in the formation of these fraud & bogus companies, and Directors of many companies are said to be relatives of the employees working in NEERI. These companies were paid crores of rupees in the name of research and consultancy in many projects of NEERI.
A Fact-Finding Committee has been installed on the order of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to find the root cause of the fraud. The committee till now has issued notice to 13 people including the Director of NEERI, Nagpur, and asked them to be present in Delhi for questioning in this matter.
The Director-General of CVC has also ordered CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research) to investigate the matter and take strict action.
The scam came forth when it was found that a company that was registered at the address of NEERI Mumbai Zonal Centre office premises, but the NEERI office has no information regarding this.
The company is completely anonymous and bogus and has been receiving funds from NEERI over the past few years through illegal and unethical methods. In many cases, NEERI has transferred money directly to the company without following any procedure.
In the complaint made to CVC, the complainant has questioned the functioning of these companies.
It was found that the people working as daily laborers in NEERI were portrayed as the directors of the company thus crores of rupees were transacted in their name without their knowledge.
In the case in which the complaint has been filed in NEERI, CSIR has formed a Fact-Finding Committee, which is investigating.
