The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has embarked on a sweeping crackdown on organised corruption.
Additional Director General of Police, VACB, Manoj Abraham, has called for a drastic increase in trap cases by encouraging whistleblowers and expanding intelligence collection.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had recently called for strict measures to prevent the gangrene of corruption from setting into the State’s public service delivery, licensing and regulatory mechanisms.
Mr. Abraham called for an updated list of “known corrupt officers” as precursors of a digitised crime database. The VACB’s intelligence wing would pursue illegal amassment of wealth leads for “targeted action.” The accent is on actionable intelligence-based surprise checks.
Raiding officers should file action reports detailing measures to counter corruption by plugging administrative loopholes.
Surprise checks would also cover the broader circle of middlemen, touts and influence peddlers who enable corruption. The agency would expedite preliminary inquiry and quick verification processes to detect cognisable offences.
It has instituted a multi-level vetting process to insulate guiltless officers from unjustified targeting by anti-corruption investigators.
The government is implementing digitisation of government services on a war footing to remove direct transactions, as far as possible, between citizens and public service providers to eliminate graft. It is also emphasising online financial transactions to ensure integrity.
The VACB will use software and electronic snooping measures to ensure that corrupt elements do not take advantage of flaws in the fast-growing online service delivery ecosystem.
Moreover, the software will help VACB detect various signs of corruption, including undue delay in disposing of files, inexplicable rejection of applications. It will also build mechanisms to end so-called “percentage corruption” in procurement. Henceforth, the VACB would spotlight bulk procurement bypassing the Government E-Market (GeM) system.
The agency would use resources persons with expertise to devise standard quality specifications for goods to encourage a robust bidding mechanism to prevent “cartel formation” and bid rigging.
It would also ensure adherence to the schedule of rates to ensure that contractors do not overdraw from the public exchequer. Inspecting ongoing public works using experts based on complaints is in the offing.
