Former AAP minister Satyendar Jain booked for taking bribe to ‘waive off penalty’ imposed on Bharat Electronics | Delhi News
The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of Delhi on Wednesday booked former Delhi PWD Minister Satyendra Jain for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 7 crore to waive off the Liquidated Damages (LD) penalty of Rs 16 crore imposed on Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).
“During the course of verification at ACB, an officer of the BEL, well-versed with the facts of the case, was examined who supported these allegations and provided a detailed complaint in the instant matter,” said Madhur Verma, Joint Commissioner of Police, ACB.
In August 2019, the Delhi government under the Aam Aadmi Party proposed a penalty of Rs 16 crore on Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) for its “slow pace” in installing 1.4 lakh CCTVs in the capital. The Rs 571-crore project, which included an annual maintenance clause for five years, specified the installation of 2,000 CCTVs in each of the 70 Assembly constituencies.
The government publicly expressed its displeasure with the public sector undertaking (PSU), which was awarded the contract in November 2018, and threatened to invoke the penalty clause, outlined in the agreement entered into by the two sides. The government issued a show cause notice and had also threatened to blacklist the firm.
The complaint, according to the ACB, stated that apart from waving off the damages, BEL was also awarded a subsequent contract to install an additional 1.4 lakh CCTVs. Jain in his capacity as a minister received a bribe of Rs 7 crore through the contractors responsible for installing the additional 1.4 lakh CCTVs.
“The bribe payments were made through different vendors by artificially enhancing the order values placed with these vendors. The relevant documents are being obtained from PWD and BEL and are being scrutinized,” said Verma.
Based on the findings, ACB registered a First Information Report (FIR) under sections 7 and 13 (1) (a) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, against Jain.
