CB team to probe treasury fraud

THIRUVANANTHPURAM: The district crime branch will investigate the siphoning off of Rs 2 crore by a senior accountant with the Vanchiyoor sub-treasury. The case, originally registered at the Vanchiyoor police station, here, has been handed over to a CB team led by a deputy superintendent of police (Dy SP).
According to the first information report, the first accused, Bijulal M R, has been committing the fraud since December 23, 2019 by using the computer login credentials of a retired official.The FIR names Bijulal’s wife, Simi D Ambi, as the second accused, to whose treasury savings bank account part of the money was transferred. The case has been charged under sections 409, 419, 420, 465, 468, 471 and 34 of the IPC and section 66C of the Information Technology Act.
The police investigation will look into the involvement of more persons and also whether anyone in the treasury had abetted the accused in committing the fraud. The government has decided to summarily dismiss Bijulal, whereby his services will be terminated immediately without serving a notice or a hearing.
It has also decided to transfer all the officials of Vanchiyoor sub-treasury, except the official who unearthed the fraud. In conjunction with the police investigation, another team, comprising three finance department officials and an official from the National Informatics Centre, will conduct a detailed probe. The government on Monday directed this team to prepare a report within five days. The team has also been asked to probe connivance on the part of higher officials.
The government has taken note of the vulnerabilities in the treasury software, which Bijulal took advantage of to carry out the fraud. Finance minister T M Thomas Isaac has already said that a detailed security audit will be conducted so that the bugs are fixed.