CBI quiz puts spotlight on De La Rue contract row
The CBI on Tuesday questioned former finance secretary Arvind Mayaram in connection with an FIR against him and a UK-based company for alleged corruption in the supply of exclusive colour shift security thread for Indian bank notes, officials said. Mayaram was called to the agency headquarters through a notice, which was received by him on Sunday, they said. He was questioned during the day by a team of officials from the Anti-Corruption unit of the agency, the officials said.
The CBI officers recorded his statement and also sought his response on several documents, they said. The CBI, in its FIR registered in 2023, had alleged that Mayaram, the UK-based company De La Rue International Ltd, and unidentified officials of the finance ministry and RBI hatched a criminal conspiracy to extend undue favour to the firm.
Mayaram was Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, in the Union Finance Ministry from April 2012 to August 2014 and Finance Secretary from August 2014 to October 2014. The agency alleged that Mayaram, as the finance secretary, granted an “illegal” three-year extension to an “expired contract” with the UK-based company De La Rue for supplying exclusive colour shift security thread without taking any mandatory security clearance from the Home Ministry or informing the then Finance Minister, they said. The extension granted by Mayaram was allegedly the fourth, the FIR said. Earlier, the CBI searched Mayaram’s home in Jaipur after registering an FIR in 2023.
De La Rue got a contract in India in 2004, when P Chidambaram was the Finance Minister. The British company was supplying the same materials to Pakistan also. Indian agencies found that Pakistan used De La Rue to print counterfeit Indian currency to create economic tensions. When Pranab Mukherjee became Finance Minister in 2010, based on Intelligence reports, De La Rue’s contract was stopped, and continued in 2012, when Chidambaram became Finance Minister again. CBI has not yet questioned Chidambaram on this matter.[1]
Reference:
[1] CBI books ex-Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram for corrupt & dubious contracts in the De La Rue currency deal. The probe may lead to Chidambaram – Jan 12, 2023, PGurus.com
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