CORRUPTED EX-GENERAL MANAGER OF KARNATAKA SOAPS & DETERGENTS LTD PUNISHED
BENGALURU: KS & DL which is 101-year-old and still famed for its Sandal wood oil across the world. Since last 10 years the company made Rs.70 crores of profit which was supposed to be Rs.100 crores. This drop is due to few corrupted higher officials in company.
One them proved to be corrupted and convicted is G. S. Bhat, Former General Manager of KS & DL. He is a Chartered Accountant from Kumta in Uttara Kannada district, joined KS & DL as Accounts Officer in 1982 and promoted as Manager within 10 years. Finally, he was promoted as General Manager (Finance).
Mr. G. R. Sivashankar who is President of Factory Labor Organization from past 33 years and had registered 17 cases with Government and The Lokayukta against the company Superiors for their corruption and illegal activities. He had submitted 18 Litigation to Lokayukta along with proofs against G. S. Bhat. Based on this, FIR been registered on 20th Sep 2005 against Bhat and police started investigation. On 22nd Sep 2005, investigation has revealed that Bhat and other officials have collective over Rs.10 crores in their 20 years of service. He has been caught with ill-gotten wealth amounting to over Rs.3 crores by the Lokayukta sleuths. They were being suspended & dismissed from company for last 10 months before FIR.
The faith came 14 years after the Lokayukta police raided the premises of Bhat. He was found to possess assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. The Lokayukta Special Court Judge Sachin Kaushik convicted G. S. Bhat on Monday, 18th Jun 2018 with four years’ imprisonment and fined amount of Rs.3 crores. In default of fine, Bhat has to undergo 18 months simple imprisonment for the offence punishable u/s 13(1)(e) R/w 13(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 & 1947.
According to the reports, Bhat was condemned for possessing disproportionate assets (DA) to his known source of income. The income from all sources of Bhat showed as 1.99 crore, his total assets value was 1.33 crore and expenditure was 1.40 crores. Finally, police have arrived to the conclusion that he was found with 1.66 crores DA which is 123.8% more than his known sources of income. The fine imposed is nearly double the DA he possesses.
Mr. G. R. Sivashankar had specially thanked Lokayukta Special Court Judge and Public Prosecutor Mohan Tankasali. He said, “such judgement would vigilant higher official in not robbing the company property”. He had demanded for Mr. R. V. Deshpande’s, (Minister for Medium and Heavy Industries) resignation who is been alleged into this case. Also, he added “many companies likewise of KS & DL are BMTC, KSRTC are having revenue leak and few like NGF, Mysore Labs have been closed not due to labors or organization, but due to corrupted political officials. These can be stopped by having approved officers recruited who is proper technical and aware of the background of industries in and out.” Also with a smile he added “Trade Union should be part of the committee so that it is transparent and should not be like Thief-Thief going to market.”
Reported by
Presenta & Shirisha
