SCAMSTERS INC.

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

The arrest of two women laboratory technicians on Saturday for selling costly medical-testing kits of the civil hospital in Kotkapura, Faridkot has ripped apart a thriving racket .

The duo of Kulwinder Kaur and Rajwinder Kaur was nabbed following an inquiry into the racket on the complaint of a SMO of hospital.

They ran this operation by twisting rules to their advantage by entering fake names in records, passing them off as government employees — who are entitled to free tests. In fact they even used names of their family members. Rajvinder showed a large number of tests in her mother, Ranjit Kaur’s name, including a pregnancy test, but put her age in the record as 57.

Sources said they also declined medical tests to many genuine OPD patients, and directed them to selected private laboratories in the town.

After registering a case, police are interrogating the accused to know which private medical laboratories the kits were sold to.

Source:TOI

One of the ten seniormost Generals of the Army has been summoned to Kolkata for questioning in a land scam case that is turning out to be one of the biggest probes involving senior officers.

Lt Gen Avadhesh Prakash, who is Military Secretary at Army Headquarters, has been called for questioning in the Darjeeling land scam case. Two Lt Generals, P K Rath and Ramesh Halgali who were both Corps commanders, have already been attached to the Kolkata-based Eastern Command in the same case.

Lt Gen Prakash, one of the seven Principal Staff Officers at Army HQ, is so far the seniormost officer called for questioning in the case where NOCs (no-objection certificates) were allegedly granted for transfer of 70 acres of land to an educational institution that posed as an affiliate of Ajmer’s Mayo College.

Sources said the officer has been called after his name came up in statements given by officers who are currently being probed. The inquiry is looking into allegations that Lt Gen Prakash recommended the Dilip Agarwal Geetanjali Educational Trust that wanted to set up a school on the piece of land near the 33 Corps HQ is Sukna.

The inquiry is probing allegations that his name appeared as the Managing Director in brochures taken out by the educational institution.

Army officials said that while several officers have been called for questioning, it does not mean that they are guilty. “The court of inquiry has been ordered to probe allegations of wrongdoing but it does not mean that all officers who have been called are guilty. If any evidence is found, suitable action will be taken,” an Army official said.

As first reported by The Indian Express, the Army ordered a Court of Inquiry last month into the dubious land deal after it came to light that NOCs were granted against the norms and Mayo College clarified that it had nothing to do with the educational institution.

Source: The Indian Express