By IANS,
Shillong : A one-day study tour to London was converted to a 10-day jaunt to European countries in 2006 by some Meghalaya legislators who produced “fake and inflated” bills for the trip that eventually cost the government Rs.1.67 crore, a report said Friday.
The incident dates back to a trip Oct 8-20, 2006, when the then assembly speaker with 15 legislators and three secretariat staff headed for London on a day’s study tour of the House of Commons, revealed a Comptroller and Auditor General report tabled Friday in the Meghalaya assembly.
The one-day study tour later turned out to be 10-day trip to Holland, France and Italy.
The legislators after returning from the tour submitted “inflated” bills and “fake” documents to the assembly secretariat costing the tax-payers’ money to the tune of Rs.1.67 crore, the CAG report said.
Members of the delegation claimed Rs.12.10 lakh to Rs.11.06 lakh in support of expenses during the trip abroad, which was reimbursed by the assembly secretariat.
Apart from “inflated” air fare bills, the legislators pocketed money for places they did not even visit.
During their visit to Amsterdam, “the members claimed to have visited Brussels, Belgium and claimed Rs.45,000 each.”
But according to the tour operator the delegation was in Amsterdam that day, the report said.
For the Euro Star train journey to Paris from London, each member of the delegation claimed Rs.67,500 while the tour operator claimed just Rs.3,073.
Tour operators further charged Rs.68,998 to cover the entire accommodation and local travel cost abroad. However, the members of the team claimed Rs.5.94 lakh for taxi fare only.
“The assembly secretariat made excess payment of Rs.1.67 crore due to entertainment of inflated claims submitted with fake documents and without supporting documents in support of their (17 delegates) expenditure/claims,” the CAG report stated.
Meghalaya Accountant General, Onkar Nath Friday said the matter was referred to the Meghalaya secretariat in June last year, but has received no reply.