The state government has ordered a departmental probe against a former Executive Engineer (EE) and a temporary staff with the Kerala Road Fund Board, Thiruvananthapuram, on charges of financial fraud to the tune of Rs 4.85 crore. The official inquiry is part of initiating stringent disciplinary action against former EE Jeeja Bhai and temporary employee Susmi Prabha U P after the PWD Internal Vigilance unearthed serious financial irregularities in the Project Management Unit (PMU) of the KRFB, Thiruvananthapuram.

Jeeja Bhai was placed under suspension in February 2024 following a report by the Project Director, KRFB, which cited grave misuse of the chequebook and cheque memo register and abuse of official power to commit financial fraud. Later, PWD Internal vigilance inspected the KRFB-PMU, Thiruvananthapuram division and reported serious lapses, including financial irregularities. It was reported that there were mismatches between entries in bank statements and the cash book.

The vigilance probe revealed that between 2021 and January 2024, an amount of Rs 4.85 crore was withdrawn using cash cheques in the name of temporary staff Sushmi Prabha. The utilization documents for this amount were not found. The officials who did the inspection expressed doubt over the withdrawal of such huge sums in the name of a temporary staff and that a difference of Rs 4 crore was detected in the cash book and bank statement.

The Internal Vigilance team reported that there should be a probe to find out how cheques of huge amounts were encashed from the bank. The report also recommended registering a criminal case against Jeeja Bhai and Susmi Prabha and a vigilance investigation into the financial irregularities. The report further said that the loss to the government due to the fraud should be recovered from the accused, and a department-level action shall be initiated against Jeeja Bhai. Based on these findings, a charge memo was issued to Jeeja Bhai. The cash cheques were withdrawn in 2021 (Rs 7.23 lakh), in 2022 (Rs 1.53 crore), in 2023 (Rs 2.87 crore) and in 2024 (Rs 37 lakh). The memo cited that the office's financial transactions register was improperly maintained. The transactions were carried out without passing an order or proceeding.

PWD noted in the order that the response furnished by Jeeja Bhai only explains staff strength and job stress and rules out the transactions regarding Rs 4.85 crore. She didn't produce utilization certificates for this amount and couldn't explain the withdrawal of the sum shown in the bank statement. The government noted in the order that Jeeja Bhai's response was an attempt to mask the facts, and it was decided to initiate legal action on financial fraud and illegal transactions in KRFB-PMU, Thiruvananthapuram.

PWD (Buildings) Chief Engineer Beena L will conduct the official probe and submit report within 45 days.