Okram Ibobi Singh. Credit: PTI
Imphal: An FIR has been lodged against former Manipur chief minister O. Ibobi Singh and five former bureaucrats of the state for alleged financial irregularities in the Manipur Development Society (MDS), a police officer said on September 2.
Ibobi Singh of the Congress was the chief minister of Manipur from 2002 to March 2017.
The FIR was on Friday lodged at the Imphal police station against Ibobi Singh and former chief secretaries Y. Ningthem Singh, P. C. Lawmkunga and O. Nabakishore Singh. Also named in the FIR were former project director of MDS D. S. Poonia and its administrative officer Ranjit Singh, the officer said.
The police lodged the FIR against Singh and five others after the joint secretary in the planning department, Th Munindra Singh, urged the Imphal West Superintendent of Police to conduct “a detailed investigation and to book the persons/officials responsible for mismanagement, misappropriation and misuse of funds,” on the basis of an enquiry report submitted by the vigilance department.
The vigilance report said the former chief minister “is required to be examined and record his statement as he was the chairman of MDS from July 1, 2013 to August 31, 2014”.
In November last year, the planning department of the state government had approached the vigilance department to conduct an enquiry into the alleged financial irregularities in MDS.
It was alleged that “officials and staffs of MDS had not observed prescribed procedures, establishment’s norms and extant rules” including “measurement books, detailed project reports and utilisation certification.”
Meanwhile, the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson A. K. Ranjit said only after the conclusion of the investigation on graft charges, their authenticity should be determined.
The Congress “welcomes the investigation process,” he added.