CBI files FIR against top CAG official in Rs 16-cr fraud in Coffee Board

A principal director in the Comptroller and Audit General of India (CAG) and four others have been booked by the CBI for fraudulently diverting Rs. 16.2 crore surplus funds of the Coffee Board to various mutual funds.

The FIR named Sharada Subramaniam, IA&AS, the then director (Finance) Coffee Board as the prime suspect along with her husband Sandeep Dash ICAS, the then Finance Member of Bangalore Development Authority (BDA); S Nagarajan, the then in-charge accounts officer at budget and co-ordination section at Coffee Board; G Ananda, the then in-charge accounts officer development section at Coffee Board and M Gururaj, managing partner of Green Homes India.

The case pertains to the period between 1998 and 2003 when Sharada Subramaniam was working as the director finance. She, in connivance with S Nagarajan, G Ananda, M Gururaj, and her husband Sandeep Dash, flouted Coffee Board’s rules and regulations and without proper approval of the competent authority, diverted Rs 16.2 crore from Coffee Board and invested it in various mutual funds. This resulted in a loss of Rs 53.25 lakh to the Coffee Board.

Dash was arrested by the CID in August 2015 for diverting Rs 2,202 crore of BDA funds and embezzled at least Rs 100 crore through investments in mutual funds.