PF scam: CBI charges 13 Jet Airways executives and EPFO employee

The Central Bureau of Investigation CBI has finally registered an FIR against 15 people in connection with the multicrore Provident Fund PF scam that hit Jet Airways employees almost a year after middayrsquos expose in August last year After conducting a yearlong investigation the Central agency has booked EPFO employee Machindra Bamne his wife Rupali and 13 senior executives of Jet Airways No arrest has been made so far but ldquothe premises of a few tainted people have been visited by the CBI officialsrdquo said a sourcemidday blew the lid off this multicrore scam on August 20 last year after which CBI sleuths got in touch with this correspondent to understand the gravity of the scam that affected Jet Airways employees mdash mostly international pilots who lost their jobs after the airlines ceased its operations in 2019Machindra Bamne the main accusedldquoA team of nearly a dozen CBI officials have been camping in Kandivli for the past one week in connection with the multicrore PF scam Most of them have come from New Delhi The Central agency sleuths scanned most of the files and their activities were mostly confidential But we have learnt that the properties of Bamne mdash the Senior Social Security Assistant at Kandivli PF office who was suspended last year and subsequently transferred to Mangalore mdash were searchedrdquo said the sourceThe FIR was registered on July 11 against the Bamne couple and 13 Jet Airways employees Bamne was brought to book only after Vigilance Department of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation EPFO exposed the gist of irregularities after unraveling the dubious transactions in his bank accountsIn the coverpage story on August 20 2022 midday exclusively published how the multicrore PF Scam hit Jet and had also reported about Bamnersquos suspension for receiving kickbacks over settlement of PF claims of Jet Airways employees But despite being neckdeep in corruption Bamne had issued a legal notice to midday last year threatening to file a defamation suit if an apology was not tendered within three daysldquoBamne was found to be involved in various fraudulent activities While working as Dealing Assistant in Accounts Section in Kandivli Bamne received illegal gratification in his as well as his wifersquos bank accounts through multiple modes of online banking from employees of various establishments in lieu of their claim settlement This aspect has been confirmed in the investigation by cross verifying the online credit entries in the accounts of the official and his wife with the corresponding debit entries in the bank accounts of employees of various establishments whose EPF claims were settled by Machindra Bamnerdquo reads the copy of the FIRCBI sleuths had got in touch with this correspondent to understand the gravity and magnitude of the scam File picSayyed Sameer AbedildquoIt was further found that the suspicious credit transactions to the tune of approximately R177 lakh in their accounts were done by the employees of Jet Airways including Rishiraj Singh Chawla Raman Sharma Kakrlapudi Sameerkumar Vimal Kumar Rajesh Pagare Baikumtha Nayak Paul Louis Indrajit Mallick Ahad Hussain BEjoy James Sam Thomas Kedar Gokhale and Divanathrdquo reads the FIR copy undersigned by Subhash Kundu ndash the Superintendent of Police CBI ACB MumbaiThe above 15 accused have been booked under sections 120B of Indian Penal Code IPC and sections 7 and 12 of Prevention of Corruption Act A number of former Jet Airways employees mostly international pilots have been reeling in severe financial crunch after losing their jobs These international workers have been desperately writing emails to the EPFO Kandivli office and have alleged that their lsquoemails are not being acknowledgedrsquoFormer staffers sufferingOver a dozen former international workers are in touch with midday since the day we exposed this PF scam Dozens of former international workers of Jet Airways have written to the CBI Union Labour Ministry and other government departments against the airline executives and the erring EPFO staffers for allegedly siphoning their PF moneyThe exemployees mostly pilots had learnt about the alleged fraud after coming across a series of reports by midday last August They shared their stories of struggle with this correspondent claiming they were kept in the dark about PF for yearsThe pilots natives of Canada Malaysia Panama Central America Czech Republic France Venezuela Portugal and some other European countries said most of them are jobless and in dire need of money as the aviation industry was badly hit during the COVID19 pandemic Sources said PF accounts of Jet pilots with accumulations of lakhs of rupees were fraudulently settled and the money taken awaylsquoBamne being protectedrsquoIn the past the EPFO Central Board of Trustees CBT members had raised this Jet Airways issue in the meetings but no action was taken A source at the Kandivli PF office told midday that Bamne was being protected by some senior EPFO officials ldquoBut the series of stories in midday caught the attention of CBI officials to register a case against Bamne and others Now the layers of scam will be exposedrdquo source addedA CBT member Prabhakar Banasure said ldquoI had been raising this issue in every meeting I am wondering how the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner RO Kandivli ndash Sudhir Ganvir was not aware of this scam The Chief Provident Fund Commissioner was also apprised of the matter But it is good if the FIR has been registered in connection with this Jet Airways scamrdquoJuly 11When the FIR was registered15No of people booked by CBI in the scam