Cuttack, Apr 10: In a major jolt to Congress leader and Barabati-Cuttack MLA Mohammed Moquim, Orissa High Court today upheld the lower court’s verdict which had awarded three years of imprisonment to the legislator in Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC) loan scam case.
As per reports, a Special Vigilance Court in Bhubaneswar had convicted Moquim in the scam and awarded him three years of rigorous imprisonment on September 29, 2022. Following this, the legislator moved the High Court to challenge the conviction.
While hearing his petition today, the High Court dismissed his appeal and upheld the lower court’s verdict.
The Special Vigilance Court had also sentenced 3-year jail term to dismissed IAS officer Vinod Kumar, ORHDC company secretary Swosti Ranjan Mohapatra, and director of Metro Builders Peeyush Mohanty in the loan fraud case. They were all fined Rs 50,000 each along with the jail term.
As far as the scam is concerned, Metro Builders had taken a loan of Rs. 1.5 crore from ORHDC for constructing about 50 flats under the project Metro City 2 in Nayapalli of Bhubaneswar on June 24, 2000. However, Metro Builders did not repay the loan.
Moquim was working as the Managing Director of Metro Builders Private Limited during the alleged scam.
It had also been alleged that the IAS officer had shown undue favor to the builder.
