NEW DELHI, Nov 18: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has sent to Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena the vigilance minister’s report accusing Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar of using his position to enable a “lucrative collaboration” between a company in which his son is a partner and the ILBS, government sources said on Saturday.
The report was submitted to Kejriwal by Vigilance Minister Atishi on Friday. The report has recommended Kumar’s suspension and a CBI investigation into the matter.
Chief Secretary Kumar has already denied any wrongdoing and alleged that “mudslinging” was being done by people with “vested interests” against whom vigilance action was taken for corruption.
On Saturday, the vigilance minister submitted another fresh report to the chief minister that alleged “a clear attempt to destroy evidence, erase the tracks and prevent public scrutiny of the startling irregularities”.
No immediate reaction was available from the chief secretary or the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) on the latest report of the vigilance minister.
The minister, in the fresh report, also alleged that “multiple web-posts” related to alleged irregularities between a private technology company and the ILBS were deleted within 24 hours of her submitting a report to the chief minister (on Friday) on the issue.
Atishi in her report claimed that the profile of the chief secretary’s son was deleted from LinkedIn while the official website of the technology company and its LinkedIn profile had also been taken down.
She also alleged that a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, made by ILBS on September 1 announcing a collaboration of the hospital’s department of hepatology and the company had also been deleted.
A doctor at ILBS said the social media handle was operated by her for updating academic activities only and it was not official handle of the institute.
Sources close to the chief secretary have claimed that his son is not a signatory to any Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the company and ILBS.
He is not at all connected with the company in question as a shareholder or director or partner or employee, they claimed.
The ILBS in a statement on Friday had denied the allegations as “totally baseless and without merit.”
“ILBS confirms that it did not issue any purchase order or made any payment to any AI software developer or company,” it said.
It was alleged in the report submitted on Friday that an MoU was signed between ILBS and the company of chief secretary’s son on January 24, that provided “a huge scope for profiteering to the company by providing it with joint intellectual property rights for any intellectual property developed through the project and 50 per cent share of profits by both parties for any future commercialisation of work.”
“Prima facie it appears that Naresh Kumar has acted in violation of the All India Services Conduct Rules and has used his position to enable a lucrative collaboration for his son’s company at a loss to the public exchequer,” the report alleged.
The report also recommended immediate termination of the MoU. (PTI)
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