Former Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) commissioner Jayakar Jerome was on Monday grilled by Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in connection with the BDA mutual fund scam.
This follows the interrogation of the prime suspect Sandeep Dash, who reportedly alleged that Mr. Jerome was in the know of the diversion of funds from BDA to mutual funds. Mr. Dash was the Member-Finance of BDA from 1997 to 2005 when he allegedly siphoned money from BDA to invest in mutual funds using fake accounts. The scam is estimated to involve an amount of around Rs. 100 crore. Mr. Jerome was the BDA commissioner from 2000 to 2004.
A senior CID official said that Mr. Jerome was summoned for questioning, as the accused claimed that the diversion of funds took place with his consent. “We need to corroborate this with independent evidence. So, we summoned Mr. Jerome,” he said.
CID officials said that Mr. Jerome was questioned for over four hours about several financial transactions. Mr. Jerome reportedly claimed to have no recollection of many transactions as they took place more than a decade ago. Mr. Jerome sought more time to answer the questions. “The questioning is incomplete. We will summon him again,” said the official.
Mr. Jerome could not be reached for comment.
