Bhubaneswar, May 30: In a major crackdown on financial irregularities within cooperative banking institutions, Vigilance sleuths on Saturday arrested a cooperative official for the misappropriation of Government funds amounting Rs 33,80,963.
The accused, identified as Patitapaban Majhi, is currently serving as the Banking Assistant at the Angul United Central Co-operative Bank Ltd. headquarters in Angul.
He committed the misappropriation during his tenure as Secretary of the Garhsantri Service Co-operative Society (SCS) under the Angul United Central Co-operative Bank (AUCCB) Ltd., Banarpal Branch.
According to Vigilance, investigation revealed that the financial crime dates back to the financial year 2017-18.
During his tenure as the Executive Secretary of the Garhsantri SCS, Majhi was entrusted with managing daily financial collections and Government deposits.
“Majhi allegedly made a series of fraudulent and fabricated entries in the primary account logs (Day Books) of the Garhsantri Service Co-operative Society and diverted the funds. While the books showed the transactions as balanced or accounted for, the corresponding physical cash totalling to Rs 33,80,963 was never deposited into the Angul United Central Co-operative Bank. The diverted funds, meant for agricultural and cooperative development schemes, were instead pocketed and diverted for personal use,” Vigilance said.
In this connection, a case has been registered by the Cuttack Vigilance wing against Majhi on May 29 under Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and different sections of IPC.