Bommai demands CBI, ED probe in illegal money recovery

Bengaluru: Karnataka former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday said that both the state government and contractors are jointly looting the state while the Contractors Association has become the state government's "commission collection center."

He said that the recovery of illegal money must be probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The IT department had recovered Rs 42 crore cash at a flat owned by a contractor in Bengaluru. The issue had taken a political turn and it was alleged that the money was collected for assembly elections of five states.

Bommai told media persons that there had been corruption in everything including transfer since the new Congress government has come to power.

“This is the most corrupt government that Karnataka has seen. Corruption is seen from a village to Vidhana Soudha, and it had been going on openly. It was for the first time that huge money has been recovered from the house of a close relative of a contractor soon after the release of the pending bill to the contractors. This has proved beyond doubt that the government is receiving 10 per cent commission. More commission scams will come out if the raids are conducted on more contractors,” he said.

He said that the Contractors Association made baseless allegations against the previous government and now the same association is working as the “government's commission collection center.”

He said that the contractors and the government were jointly looting the state.

“The recent recovery of money must be probed by the ED under the Money Laundering Act and Prevention of Corruption Act by the CBI,” he demanded.

He said that if the Chief Minister has no role in this, then he must form a commission led by Justice Nagmohan Das or refer to the Lokayuktha.

“The State Congress leaders who were acting like the ATM for the assembly polls in five states have no moral right to talk about corruption,” Bommai said.

He said that the Contractors Association President Kempanna met the CM Siddaramaiah alleging that selective payment had been made.

“This was the evidence of corruption. The bills of contractors who have paid commission have been released,” he said.