Times
of India: Ahmedabad: Wednesday, 23 December 2015.
Ahmedabad: In
a PIL filed on Monday ,a former director of Gujarat International Financial
Tec-City Co Ltd (GIFT City), Divyabhash Anjaria, has alleged huge financial
irregularities in transactions by the project's administrators and sought a
probe into them. He urged the Gujarat high court to direct the state government
to replace all directors with people who have experience and integrity . The
high court has asked the petitioner to establish whether GIFT City is a state
instrumentality.
The
petitioner accused the developer, International Leasing & Financial
Services Ltd (IL&FS) of hiring firms like Fairwood Consultants Pvt Ltd and
its own subsidiaries for services the company was itself supposed to provide.
The petitioner also alleged that the services were engaged at a higher rate and
this was pointed out in an internal audit as well.
Demanding
that GIFT City be bro ught under the purview of RTI laws by appointing a Public
Information Officer, the petitioner has sought a CAG audit as well as a
thorough probe into the financial transactions by a special investigation team
(SIT) comprising of finance experts.
The
petitioner has alleged that GIFT City was a Rs 70,000-crore project and bids
should have been invited by the government for partnering with a private
firm.However, IL&FS was chosen without this to carry out the development.
Instead of providing its development expertise, the company allegedly hired
another firm for the task.
The
petitioner has alleged fraud by the mortgaging of government land to banks and
financial institutions to raise Rs 1,100 crore while the land was leased to
GIFT City for 99 years for a token of just Rs 1. The petitioner has also
accused former GIFT City chairman Sudhir Mankad of conflict of interest,
because he also held various positions in IL&FS's subsidiaries.
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