Aurangabad PMAY tender fraud: ED says same IP address for 3 bidders

Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday carried out searches at multiple locations in Aurangabad as part of its money-laundering probe into an alleged fraud in the tender process conducted in connection with the PMAY (Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana)-Urban scheme of the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation. 

The ED probe is based on a case registered by the Aurangabad police against three bidders – Samarth Multibiz India Pvt Ltd, Indoglobal Infrastructure Services and Jaguar Global Services – who allegedly filed their e-tenders from a single computer, which meant they had a common Internet Protocol (IP) address, which amounted to a bid to form a cartel, a practice restricted in the tender process. An Internet Protocol (IP) address is a unique numerical identifier for each device or network that connects to the internet.

19 people named in Feb 23 FIR

A case was registered on Feb 23 by the police on a complaint from the civic body’s deputy commissioner Aparna Thete, who headed the PMAY department. The FIR mentioned 19 persons associated with three accused firms.

“Since the tender was submitted from the same IP address, it appears that the condition related to ‘restrictive practice’, forming a cartel or arriving at any understanding or arrangement among bidders with the objective of restricting or manipulating a full and fair competition in the bidding process, was violated,” the ED source said. 

The bidders have been accused of fraudulent practice, that is misrepresentation or omission of facts or suppression of facts or disclosure of incomplete facts to influence the bidding process, to cause financial loss to the municipal corporation and the government and to benefit himself, the source said. 

It's also alleged that the accused also gave a false affidavit along with the application stating that he had not committed any fraud against the municipal corporation, the source said.