SCAMSTERS INC.

Tourism minister G Janardhana Reddy claimed that Gowda family members would be behind the bars as the Supreme Court verdict in the mining bribery case is likely to be delivered soon. People have rejected leaders like Chandrababu Naidu and H D Deve Gowda and the two have become politically bankrupt, Reddy, who owns Obulapuram Mining Company, which is in the eye of a storm, told media persons in Tumkur.

Joining issue with Reddy, JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy predicted that Reddy brothers would go to jail for their illegal mining activities and looting the country's wealth.

“When I was the Chief Minister they had dragged my name in the mining scam. Now, their involvement in illegal mining has come in the open,” he told newsmen in Hassan.

Kumaraswamy claimed that the poll tie-up in the Council elections between the JD(S) and the Congress would change the political scenario in the State. Their main aim was to destabilise the communal forces in the State.

He alleged that the government had cheated farmers by giving excess land to NICE.

Source: Daiji World

The police, on Thursday, arrested five persons - including a bank employee and a taxi driver with 16 bank accounts to his name - in a multi-crore scam. The arrested have been identified as Ramesh Rathod, Vinod Tiwari, Shishir Dev Mishra, Manoj Shinde and Anam Siddique. Police have also detained Amrit Mule - an employee of a reputed bank - in the case.

While Rathod is employed with a reputed bank, Tiwari is the taxi driver, who played the vital role of encashing forged cheques from across the city after depositing them into his various bank accounts.

Like Tiwari, Mishra - a carpenter by profession - also encashed cheques for the gang. Shinde and Siddique are middlemen who obtained blank cheques of wealthy businessmen and companies and handed them over to the group. The six were arrested after they tried encashing a stolen cheque at an Axis Bank branch in Koparkhairane.

The blank cheque had been reported stolen by the owners of Saree Enterprises in Powai. The scamsters - according to police - sought information from bank employee Mule about the balance in company’s account, and then filled in an amount of Rs 2.5 lakh and forged the requisite signatures on the cheque.

The cheque was deposited in Tiwari’s account, but the police swooped in on the group before it could be encashed. Police sources disclosed that the six men are part of a much larger network that has embezzled more than Rs 300 crore.

Investigating officers also believe that there are multiple modules involved in the scam; each having a different modus operandi. In October, the police had arrested six men in connection with the case, thus taking the total tally of those arrested to 12 with Thursday’s arrests.

“We suspect that this is just the tip of the iceberg and several more bank employees and scamsters are involved,” said API S N Bhandge, who is investigating the case. The earlier module busted by the Powai police involved an interrelated gang that deposited stolen cheques in bank accounts opened in fake names.

The gang first prepared fake identity cards like PAN card, voters ID, rations cards, etc, which were used to open bank accounts. The fake documents were also used to procure credit cards, whose bills were never paid.

“While the modus operandi is different, they are all connected,” Bhandge said. He elaborated that apart from using their bank accounts to deposit stolen cheques, the scamsters also lent the same accounts to others operating online UK lottery frauds and Nigerian SMS scams, for a small commission.

“The unsuspecting victims of lotteries and SMSes were given the same account numbers to deposit the money. Once the victim deposited the money, it was removed within seconds,” Bhandge said.

We suspect this is just the tip of the iceberg and several more bank employees and scamsters are involved - S N Bhandge, Asst Police Inspector

Source: Mumbai Mirror

With four generals and several other officers in the dock for the alleged Sukna land scam, the government has asked the Army to swiftly take the case to its logical conclusion.

"Whenever there is irregularity in any procedure or any functioning, the Service concerned looks into the matter and takes appropriate steps. The defence ministry had directed the Army to look into this matter and take appropriate decisions,'' said minister of state for defence M M Pallam Raju on Tuesday.

Defence minister A K Antony, on his part, has already warned the Army that such cases "not only damage its image'' but also "adversely affect the ability of senior officers to measure up to the expectations of the men they lead''.

MoD and Army HQ will take the final call whether the officers indicted by the court of inquiry (CoI) should face a court martial after summary of evidence (equivalent to framing of charges in a civil court) is recorded against them.

The case revolves around the Army's grant of a no-objection certificate (NoC) in February-March to business groups and a private education trust, which posed as an affiliate of the Ajmer-based Mayo College, to acquire a 71-acre tea estate adjacent to the Sukna military station. The area falls under the jurisdiction of the 33 Corps based in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal.

After the NoC was granted on February 6, an MoU was subsequently signed on March 20 between the Sukna station commander and four private entities -- J F Low & Co Ltd, Sheetala Vyapar Pvt Ltd, Mata Vaishnonodevi Mercantile Pvt Ltd and Akshara Vanijyar Pvt Ltd.

Incidentally, Army authorities had earlier refused the NoC and instead wanted the 71-acre land to be acquired from the West Bengal government, which had leased it to the four entities in 2006, for the force itself.

The officers questioned by the CoI include military secretary Lt-Gen Avadhesh Prakash, one of the eight principal staff officers to General Deepak Kapoor at the Army HQ here, the then 33 Corps chief Lt-Gen P K Rath and his deputy Lt-Gen Ramesh Halgali, as reported earlier.

Sources close to these officers, however, claim they are being needlessly victimised. "There is a scam behind the so-called scam. Not a single inch of land has changed hands. Moreover, the MoU, undertaken to allow the construction of a residential school, was cancelled in April itself after the Eastern Army Command (EAC) objected,'' said one.

Added another, "It's actually the result of a messy turf war raging between Gen Kapoor and his successor, EAC chief Lt-Gen V K Singh (who is slated to become Army chief on March 31, 2010).''

Source: TOI

When Sri Lankan national Umesh, alias Jatti, conned several people in Canada into parting with their credit card details and swindled several lakhs, he exposed the vulnerability of internet users to phishing scams and fake sites. Umesh, who was arrested two months back, had been running a fake credit card manufacturing unit in Valasaravakkam and had bought credit card and bank information from the international internet black market, which sells such data for as little as Rs 20 for a card. He’s just one of the few scamsters who fell into the police net though.

The cyber crime wing of the city police has been seeing a steady increase over the years in the number of such complaints. Till November 2009, the cyber crime wing received 920 complaints compared to a mere 35 in 2003.

In 2005, the cyber crime wing had got 173 complaints, of which they registered 28 cases. Subsequently, this number doubled to 350 in 2006, of which 17 cases were booked. In 2007, the number of complaints further doubled to 702 and the cyber crime branch booked 22 cases. In 2008, the crime branch got 852 complaints and registered 31 cases.

This year, while the complaints have shot up to 920 so far, 42 cases have been registered so far. It’s the highest since the wing was formed. “We are dealing with hacking of e-mail ids, online cheating, software theft, and posting of obscene pictures, apart from other computer and mobile phone related crimes.

Recently, many Nigerians were arrested for an online lottery scam,” a cyber official said. With white collar crimes on the rise, the cyber crime wing clearly finds itself snowed under a pile of investigations.

Source: TOI

The report of the M.S. Liberhan Commission, which probed the demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya, has not left anybody wiser. In fact, there is more information available from other sources. The report appears to be incomprehensive despite the long time it took for Liberhan to submit his findings after so much money was spent and numerous extensions given.

What has surprised many is that Liberhan made no attempt to examine so many people who were in the know of things. Instead, he reached his conclusions that are not only inconsistent but are written in different styles of language across sections. Liberhan must have certainly silenced his critics in the bar who always questioned his ability to write judgements and reports.

The report actually made its way into the public domain through a selective leak to The Indian Express during Parliament session. Understandably, the leakage led to a hue and cry and both the Congress and the BJP accused each other of sharing the report with the newspaper. As according to the home minister’s statement, there were just two copies of the report and he assured members that he had not leaked it. The obvious implication of this was that the leakage occurred from Liberhan’s side.

Though the learned judge denied vehemently any such doing on his part, several BJP and Janata Dal (United) members admitted in private to the possibility of the hand of a Haryana politician in the affair. Many also saw this as a ploy to unite the divided BJP and also to enable L.K. Advani, under fire from the RSS, to extend his tenure as leader of the Opposition. The other explanation was that the report could have been leaked by the Congress to divide a united opposition wanting to discuss price rise, the Koda episode and a host of other issues.

But coming back to the report, a lot was made out of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s name appearing among those responsible for the conspiracy to knock down the Babri Masjid. VHP leader Ashok Singhal on Friday did confirm that Vajpayee was associated with the Ram Janmabhoomi movement even if there was nothing to suggest his direct involvement. In any case, he was the biggest beneficiary of the movement since he went on to become the Prime Minister for six-and-a-half years over two terms.

Singhal, incidentally, has advised Advani to refrain from saying things like “It was the saddest day of his life.”

The report goes on to absolve P.V. Narasimha Rao, the then Prime Minister. This has been done without caring to examine leaders like Makhan Lal Fotedar who was the only member of Rao’s Cabinet to resign on this issue and who had warned him time and again that the kar sevaks would demolish the disputed structure.

Fotedar, a former political adviser to both Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, later told Rao at a Cabinet meeting on the day of the incident that he was to be blamed for the destruction of the structure. Earlier, the then President Shankar Dayal Sharma had told Fotedar that he got the impression that Rao had prevented Governor B. Satya Narayan Reddy from imposing President’s rule at that time as a pre-emptive step. Liberhan never examined Reddy.

Sources in the bureaucracy also confirmed that even the Cabinet Secretary S. Rajgopal had an inkling of what was going to happen on that day. But the PM overruled him. Singhal has alleged that Rao was sympathetic to their cause. The rest, as they say, is history.

What has surprised many is that the government’s comments on the report are extremely bureaucratic. It is true that with a report like this, there is nothing much any government can do in its Action Taken Report (ATR).

But the anthology of different styles in the Liberhan report is, in fact, a joke on the people of India. Who will ever believe any commission of inquiry after such a shoddy job? In the end, Justice Liberhan has no reason to be proud of himself. Between us.

Source: Hindustan Times

A South African national was arrested for his alleged role a racket involved in making counterfeit US dollars. James Lucas, 35, was arrested on Saturday in a joint operation by Prevention of Crime Branch (PCB) and Special Operation Group (SOG) when he was travelling in an auto rickshaw in Chowk Bazaar.

The huge bag that Lucas was carrying raised policemen's suspicion who checked it and recovered a safe with digital lock system from it.

When Lucas was asked to give the keys of the safe, he refused to cooperate. He feigned ignorance of Hindi and Gujarati. Questioned in English, he told the police that he stayed at 8th floor of New Golden Nest at Motinagar, Mira Road, Mumbai. He said he originally was a resident of 28, Church Road, near John Boy's School, Johannesburg.

Lucas said he had come to deliver the safe to someone named Vishal near Big Bazaar at city's Piplod area. The bag was given to him by a person called David.

Police broke open the safe from its backside through welding and found neatly wrapped 42 bundles of papers in cotton with imprints of US flag and $ 50,000 on them. The safe also had a bottle with some chemical, hand gloves and masks. There was a letterhead of United State Aid For International Development Federal Reserve Board, Department of Treasury, PMB 713840, Washington DC, USA, with details of procedure to make currency notes.

The materials that have been seized have been sent Directorate of Forensic Science (DFS), Gandhinagar, for testing.

Police have seized Lucas' passport and Rs 4,823 cash from him. Currencies of a few other countries and a mobile phone were also seized. The police have launched a search for Lucas' associates.

Source: TOI

Delhi Mayor Kanwar Sain on Thursday sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the bogus employees scam of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). The biometric attendance system of the civic agency has revealed 22,853 bogus employees, drawing a monthly salary of Rs 17 crore.

"The biometric attendance system has revealed that there is a gap of 22,853 employees in the MCD. While I have already written to the lieutenant governor (Tejendra Khanna) regarding this and have ordered an inquiry, I am also seeking a probe by the CBI in the matter," Sain said.

"A CBI enquiry is crucial in this matter because an investigation needs to be done as to who approved these fake employees, who is drawing their salary every month and the likes," he added.

According to Sain, these "fake employees" draw a huge chunk of the taxpayers' money and the issue would not be taken lightly. In the biometric attendance system, a staffer has to place a finger or a card on the 'reader' to register presence.

The biometrric system was introduced in the MCD headquarters in Town Hall on Aug 1, 2008.

Source:TOI

Telecom Minister A Raja today alleged that the BJP-led NDA government had distributed free spectrum to operators in what he called "biggest ever scam" that deprived the exchequer of over Rs 1,60,000 crore revenue.

Debunking charges that his spectrum allocation policies caused a revenue loss of Rs 60,000 crore, he said not only the then government gave free spectrum, it violated all norms by giving the frequency far in excess of 4.4 MHz to many leading operators and the government did not even get any revenue share.

Raja accused BJP leader Arun Jaitley, who has called for his resignation, of favouring major operators during the NDA rule and also defending one of them in the high court.

"Now there is infighting within Arun Jaitley. His legal brain is fighting the political brain. I do not know what will be the outcome. Whether his legal brain will win or the political one," the minister said.

Asked about demands for his resignation, he replied: "I will not step down.

"Ours is a government that has followed all rules to the letter and spirit by following the recommendations of TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India)."

Source: India Today

The multi-crore coal import scam along with the alleged irregularities over a period of seven years, commencing from 2002 in the state-owned Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS) in the purchase of transformers which rocked the Karnataka legislature recently, has been referred to a judicial inquiry headed by retired high court judge Mohan Kumar.

Karnataka’s energy minister K S Eshwarappa announced the appointment of Justice Mohan Kumar to head the one-man judicial inquiry commission and said the probe panel has been asked to submit its report within six months.

It may be recalled that the Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa had announced the government’s decision to refer the entire allegations to a retired judge of the High Court to conduct a probe into coal purchases and transportation of indigenously mined coal from some mines in Orissa.

The Government has preferred a judicial inquiry in the light of malpractices and misuse of public funds which have come to light, Eshwarappa said.

Meanwhile, the minister indicated that the Union Environment Ministry has agreed to send an expert committee to assess the feasibility of setting up a 270 MW hydro power generation unit at Gundia in Sakleshpur taluk of Hassan district.

Eshwarappa said the Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh had informed the State Government about sending of the expert committee to study the pros and cons of the project from the environmental perspective.

The establishment of the project had created a lot of public outcry from local people and environmentalists as it was likely to destroy over 100 hectares of forest in the Malnad region.

A few months ago, Yeddyurappa laid the foundation stone to the project. The Centre would provide environmental clearances to the hydro project only after the studying the expert committee’s report, Eshwarappa said.

The Malnad Janapara Horata Samithi has been opposing the project on ecological grounds. Eshwarappa contended that no talks were held between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments on setting up of power projects in the Cauvery Basin.

The State Government was keen only on augmenting the power generation at Shivanasamudram. So far, there was no talk with the Tamil Nadu government on the establishment of power plants Rasimanal and Hogenakkal in Tamil Nadu and Mekadatu in Karnataka, he said. A year ago, the then Union Minister of State for Power, Jairam Ramesh, discussed the subject with the Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, M Karunanidhi and Yeddyurappa.

Establishment of four power projects in the Cauvery Basin would destroy about 10,000 hectares of forests in both states. The State Government wanted to implement Shivasamudram project on its own, Eshwarappa said.

The State has been facing shortage of power on account of increased demand from all sectors of the economy. For the time being, there was no question of purchasing power from private parties. The demand has been fluctuating between 89 million units and 101 million units per day for last few days.

The Government was confident of adding 5000 MW to the State grid at the end of its five year tenure, he added.

Source: DaijiWorld

Forty-nine sites measuring 64,245.25 square feet near Yelahanka, and 39 acres in Hoskote taluk where a township is proposed. The government attached these properties worth several hundred crores, belonging to ViniVinc Group head Srinivas Shastry, on Monday. In a multi-crore scam, Shastry, through the company, had hoodwinked around 2,000 investors of nearly Rs 203 crore.

The follow-up action to get money out of the property was also quick. The deputy commissioner, Bangalore district, has appointed a liquidator, who has already fixed dates for public auction of the sites near Yelahanka. They will go under the hammer from Wednesday and the money will be distributed among investors.

Shastry was arrested by the Corps of Detectives (CoD) in Vishakapatnam in 2005, and the Supreme Court recently granted him a two-month bail based on the assurance that he would return money to all depositors within the specified period.

Monday's attachment of properties, under the Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments Act, 2004, is the biggest since Shastry was nabbed. "The reason for the attached properties being worth several hundred crores is that the 49 sites in Yelahanka and 39 acres in Ekarajapura in Hoskote are fully converted," sources said. However, the exact price has not been estimated.

While other property had been attached earlier, a sessions court, on November 2, had taken serious objection to the Yelahanka and Hoskote properties being left out. The court had observed that the Act provided for an overriding effect in respect of properties held by fraudulent financial institutions falling under it purview.

THE FRAUD

* The CoD, after completing investigation, had filed a chargesheet before the IV additional chief metropolitan magistrate against Shastry and 19 others

* Properties worth Rs 10.94 crore were attached earlier

* Investigation revealed cash transactions of over Rs 203 crore by Shastry, company vice-president G Lokesh and 18 others

* There were 20,184 investors, involved in transactions worth Rs 203,63,41,950

* Shastry had invested most of the money in the share market and lost it

SHASTRY'S GROUP OF COMPANIES

* ViniV-Inc

* ViniV-Inc Foundation

* VinV-Inc Ultra Super Market

* VinV-Inc Properties

* ViniV-Inc Business Solutions Pvt Ltd

* ViniV-Inc Education Trust

* ViniV-Inc Help Mart Pvt Ltd

* ViniV-Inc Times

* ViniV-Inc Matrimony

* ViniV-Inc News Net

* ViniV-Inc Souharda Credit Cooperative Society Ltd

* ViniV-Inc Insurance Solutions

Source:TOI

Sports website RootZoo has accused Facebook of manipulating the scale of its pay-per-click (PPC) advertiser program. Facebook's PCC scheme charges advertisers a fixed amount each time a user clicks on their ad. However, RootZoo claims there has been a big discrepancy between the number of clicks it was charged for, and clicks that its own internal tracking software detected.


The filing alleges that Facebook billed the website with 804 clicks on June 2, 2008, while RootZoo recorded only 300 clicks that day. RootZoo's figures are claimed to have come from "Two industry leading software programs that track the number of clicks to its website and where the clicks originated."

In the course of investigating the clicks, RootZoo further claims that it found that hundreds of clicks were coming from small towns in the U.S. on a daily basis between April and May 2008, a rate that "would be almost statistically impossible given the distribution of the American population" and RootZoo's history of traffic from Facebook ads.

The complaint suggests the click fraud is perpetrated by rival sites that want to increase the fees that their competitor is paying and to use up their budget of clicks for the day. Beyond the discrepancy, RootZoo says Facebook doesn't do enough to prevent click fraud shenanigans and doesn't warn advertisers of the potential flaw in its program. It alleges that when advertisers suspect they've become victims of click fraud, Facebook gives them the cold shoulder.

"Facebook refused to take any action in response to these complaints nor has Facebook made available any of its internal data that would allow advertisers to understand the basis for the clicks on the advertisers' advertisements which Facebook claims to have occurred," says RootZoo. Facebook denies the charges against them, claiming it already has measures in place to prevent the ad scamming.

Source: siliconindia.com