Newsroom24x7 Network

New Delhi: The arrest of a Joint Director, Senior Technical Assistant, both posted in the office of DG (Corporate Affairs), Ministry of Corporate Affairs(MOCA), and another Joint Director of MOCA posted as Official Liquidator, Corporate Bhawan, Chennai and an associate of a Mumbai based private company in a bribery case by the CBI on Saturday 29 July, has exposed the working of the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs and the way many senior officers in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, especially in the Office of Director General Corporate Affairs, were indulging in corruption while enforcing the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013.

The arrested officers have been identified as Manjit Singh, Joint Director, posted at Office of the Director General (Corporate Affairs), Ministry of Corporate Affairs in New Delhi, Puneet Duggal, Joint Director, presently posted as Official Liquidator at Corporate Bhawan in Chennai, Ruhi Arora, Senior Technical Assistant, posted in the office of DGCA in Delhi and Reshabh Raizada, an associate of Alok Industries in Mumbai.

The very fact that a large amount of money in cash and incriminating documents have been seized by the CBI from the premises of the arrested officers is ample proof that they were indulging in corruption on a continuous basis and the case in question is not a one time exception. Surely therefore, the officers they report to, those who write their confidential reports should also be held accountable and the onus lies on them to prove every action they have taken against different companies when it comes to the enforcement of the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, on basis of proposals and notings of officers who are now in the dock and are facing prosecution, is above board.

Investigation by Newsroom24x7 has established that the latest arrest by the CBI is only the tip of the iceberg and investigation on a wider scale is bound to reveal that the cancer of corruption is widespread when it comes to enforcement and actions taken by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs under various provisions of the Companies Act, 2013. From information available with Newsroom24x7, the malaise of corruption appears to be widespread. There is evidence available with Newsroom24x7 to prove that the Ministry of Corporate Affair can even go ahead and decide in terms of prosecuting a company under the draconian Section 447 of Companies Act, 2013, by subverting the whole process and in gross violation of Article 20 of the Constitution and mandatory provisions of the Companies Act. This on the basis allegedly false, fabricated and malicious complaints.One cannot also rule out action by the Ministry officials in specific cases due to “extranuous reasons”. This has also been brought on record by the National Company Law Tribunal.

In the instant matter, a case was registered on 28 July 2023 against a Joint Director, a Senior Technical Assistant both posted at the Office of Director General (Corporate Affairs), Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Shahjahan Road, New Delhi ; another Joint Director, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, presently posted as Official Liquidator at Corporate Bhawan, Rajaji Salai, Chennai ; an associate of Mumbai based private company ; the said private company and other unknown public servants and private persons. It was alleged that the said public servants were indulging in corrupt and illegal activities. The charge against them was that they were part of a conspiracy and taking bribe from the private person for showing favour in the files of a private company pertaining to the investigation being made by the Ministry of Corporate affairs for adopting illegal & unethical business activities.
A trap was laid and the Joint Director was caught with bribe money of Rs. 3 lakh. Later, the other accused, including accused public servants and private person were also caught.
Searches were conducted at Delhi, Gurugram and Chennai in the premises of the accused which led to recovery of cash totalling approximately Rs. 59.80 lakh, several incriminating documents and digital evidence.

Postscript: In July 2016, CBI had arrested Director General, Corporate Affairs,  B.K. Bansal, an Additional Secretary level officer on allegations of receiving bribes. He was arrested on the charge of receiving bribe for extending favours to a corporate firm. The Director General, Corporate Affairs had demanded a bribe of Rs. 50 lakh for not recommending investigation by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office, on the inspection report.

After he was suspended following his arrest by CBI, Bansal and his son committed suicide. This was after his wife and daughter’s suicide (post his arrest by the CBI) in the corruption cases.