Bhubaneswar, May 10: The Odisha Vigilance on Sunday arrested six persons, including the prime accused, in connection with a major fraud case involving the alleged misappropriation and embezzlement of government funds worth Rs 8.04 crore over the past several years.

The prime accused, Santosh Kumar Panda, former Senior Assistant at the Sub-Treasury office in Chandbali in Bhadrak district, along with his associates Siba Shankar Samal, Deb Shankar Samal, Prafulla Kumar Rout, Sandip Kumar Mitra and Abhay Kumar Panda, was arrested for his alleged involvement in the large-scale financial fraud.

The vigilance department in a press note stated that in a significant crackdown on administrative corruption, the sleuths have arrested Panda, who is accused of masterminding a prolonged criminal conspiracy that resulted in the misappropriation of Rs 8,04,76,146 from the state exchequer between 2018 and 2023.

The anti-corruption sleuths, during the investigation, found a sophisticated manipulation of the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS), exploiting the trust-based digital workflow between clerks and authorising officers. After a genuine Pension, Gratuity, or Commutation of Value of Pension (CVP) bill was processed and paid to a real pensioner, the prime accused allegedly waited for five to six months to avoid immediate detection.

He would then allegedly divert government funds to the bank accounts of his associates by entering a fresh payment transaction into the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS), the government treasury software system.

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“Using his official Login ID and Password, Sri Panda accessed the "Gratuity Payment Menu" on the IFMS Portal. He re-entered the original Pension Payment Order (PPO) number and ID of the genuine pensioner. Instead of the pensioner's account, he generated a "Third-Party GPO (Govt. Pension Order) ID," diverting the funds to his associates,” the vigilance further added.

The Sub-Treasury Officer (the approving authority) allegedly approved these bills using a separate login without verifying if the bill had already been paid or if the beneficiary details matched the original authority. The accused persons allegedly misappropriated a total of Rs 8,04,76,146 between July 25, 2018, and May 4, 2023, through 102 individual fraudulent bills. The misappropriated funds were funnelled into 44 different bank accounts belonging to 37 private individuals who are the associates of the prime accused, Panda.

(IANS)