CBI books four in ₹80.47L furniture contract scam

MUMBAI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked four individuals, including three officials of the Military Engineer Services (MES), in connection with alleged irregularities in payment of over ₹80 lakh to a private contractor despite his supply of sub-standard wooden furniture in contravention of terms of contract.

According to CBI sources, the crime took place between 2018 to 2021. The CBI registered the case after the conduct of a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) probe into allegations that the private contractor supplied sub-standard wooden furniture, without ensuring proper quality check and that certain officials of MES released payments of over ₹80 lakh to the contractor against the wooden furniture’s supply.

It was alleged that the contractor supplied inferior quality ready-made furniture and while it was specified that the furniture should be made of firstclass wood Teak (MP Teak wood), a sample wood part of the furniture, when tested, turned out to be made of Eucalyptus Wood timber, CBI sources said.

The agency booked two assistant engineers and a barrack store officer of the MES, Panaji, Goa, and a private contractor, under sections of the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of

Corruption Act related to alleged offences of cheating, criminal conspiracy, criminal misconduct, and destruction of evidence.

The contractor was awarded the contract for the supply of wooden furniture worth ₹80.47 lakh in November 2018 by the office of Chief Engineer, Pune Zone, CBI sources said. The work order for the ₹80.47 lakh tender work was issued by the Office of the Garrison Engineer, MES, Panaji, to the contractor.

It was alleged that in 2019, in pursuance to the alleged conspiracy, the accused contractor, through his proprietary firm and with dishonest intention, purchased ready-made inferior quality wooden furniture from a third party by violating the terms and conditions of the contract and supplied the same to the Garrison Engineer, MES, Panaji. The said wooden furniture was accepted by an accused MES official allegedly without obtaining the required essential valid test certificate and the purchase invoices for the supplied wooden furniture, the sources said.

Based on a complaint received in May 2019, alleging that the wooden furniture supplied by the contractor was of inferior quality, the MES sent a sample wood for testing at the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) laboratory in Thrissur, Kerala. The said sample was tested/ examined by KFRI and was identified as “Eucalyptus Wood.”