Lokayukta seeks CBI probe into Siddiqui’s assets

  

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Express news service : Lucknow, Sat Aug 25 2012, 05:11 hrs

Holding BSP general secretary and former minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui prima facie guilty of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income and money laundering, UP Lokayukta N K Mehrotra on Friday recommended an inquiry by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate into his assets.

In a report to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, the Lokayukta also held Siddiqui guilty of influencing the allotment of mining contracts in his native district Banda and helping his relatives grab the land of the municipality, causing revenue loss to the exchequer.

Siddiqui, who was the most important minister in the Mayawati government, held several departments including PWD and Excise. He is currently leader of opposition in the Legislative Council.

In his 10-month-long inquiry, Mehrotra found that Siddiqui had influenced the allotment of sand and red gravel’s mining contracts in an irregular manner in Banda. One Chahat Hussain was given the contract of 4 acres land in 2008 for 10 years, Faizan Ahmed was given the contract of 3.75 acres in 2008 for 10 years. Baldev Prasad, who is BSP district president, was given the contract of 10 acres in 2009 for three years. Wasif Zaman Khan was given the contract of 119 acres in 2009 and of 90 acres in 2010 for three years.

Mehrotra said the advertisements for the mining contracts were published in unknown newspapers. Among all the applicants, only these persons were declared to have fulfilled all the formalities by the mining officer and other applications were rejected. Mandatory clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests was also not taken for any of these mining contracts, Mehrotra said.

The inquiry also found that several relatives of Siddiqui, including his brother Zamiruddin and nephew Zubairuddin, had occupied nazul land of Banda municipality.

The Lokayukta found that Zamiruddin held 41.8 sq metre nazul land and built a school on the nazul land. The Lokayukta recommended that these people be evicted from the nazul land.

Mehrotra said he found that Siddiqui’s son Afzal and brother Zamiruddin had bought benami properties at several places in the state, including Amroha, Banda and Lucknow. He said there are as many as five companies registered in the name of Afzal named GT Infotech, QF Enterprises, Agro Food Pvt Ltd, AOV Export Ltd and AQ Frozen Meat Factory. These companies received unsecured loans of Rs 2.23 crore, which is prohibited under law. Though these companies are registered in Kanpur and Delhi, nothing could be known about the dealings and whereabouts of these companies.

Mehrotra found that while the income of the proprietor of these companies increased from Rs 15.44 lakh in 2008-09 to Rs 1.41 crore in 2010-11, but the total business turnover of these companies came down from Rs 37.68 lakh to Rs 7.78 lakh in the same period.

The Lokayukta said these companies were used for money laundering by the former minister and their dealings should be investigated by the CBI or ED.

In his report, the Lokayukta said that the income of Siddiqui, as per the income tax returns filed by him in four financial years between 2007-08 and 2010-11, was Rs 77.16 lakh but his expenditure for the same period was Rs 1.03 crore. There should be a criminal inquiry into the source of money for this expenditure, Mehrotra said.

The complaint against Siddiqui had been filed by Ashish Sagar, an RTI activist from Banda, in November last year.

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