Panaji, Sep 16 (PTI) The Goa Lokayukta on Wednesday directed the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) to register an FIR against unknown persons for a "conspiracy to siphon off funds" from a state government's scheme meant to provide financial assistance to building and other construction workers (BOCW) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ordering a probe into various aspects, the Lokayukta said subsequent investigation can be entrusted to the CBI if possible involvement of high officials and politicians is found.

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The order was issued on a plea filed by Goa Forward Party (GFP) vice president Durgadas Kamat alleging a "scam" in the payments made to various beneficiaries from the BOCW welfare fund.

The GFP had alleged workers of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were paid the money during the pandemic period through the welfare scheme, which was commissioned to provide financial assistance to BOCW.

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Similar allegations of a "scam" were levelled by the opposition Congress.

In his response, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had denied the allegations, saying majority of workers were genuine. "A few of them who might not have been genuine had alaready returned the amount (received by them)," he had said.

In his order, Lokayukta Justice P K Misra (retd) directed the ACB to file an FIR against unknown persons "for a conspiracy to siphon out funds of the Goa BOCW welfare scheme".

The Lokayukta stated a conspiracy was hatched with the intention to "distribute largesse by stuffing the beneficiary register of the fund with beneficiaries who are not BOCWs; with a view to securing the benefit offered under the welfare schemes by falsely holding out that they are BOCWs when they were not".

"Investigators may take sample checks of beneficiaries, who have provided full particulars, on a random basis, and investigate them and determine them to be true or false," the order said.

Referring to worker beneficiaries, the Lokayukta directed the anti-corruption agency to investigate "who had motivated them to enroll and if they have undergone training, where, in what skill, how many hours/day and how many days".

"The labour inspectors may be queried on a similar basis of incomplete forms, how and why they had verified them, and whether they were coerced to do so," the order said.

The Lokayukta also ordered that the private company, which was given the work of listing out beneficiaries, should be investigated.

The order also mentions that the cases may be registered against the fake applicants, who have fraudulently represented themselves as BOCW.

"If the investigations directed above point to the possible involvement of high officials and politicians, subsequent investigation can be entrusted to the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI)," the order said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)