Allegations that the previous BJP government demanded 40% commission for the award of civil contracts made by a contractor in Bengaluru are “baseless”, according to the Lokayukta investigation.
According to TheFile, a Kannada investigative journalism portal, the Lokayukta filed a report in July this year saying that the allegations made by R Ambikapathy, vice president of the BBMP Contractors' Association, were “baseless”.
The allegations were first made during the previous BJP government by Ambikapathy and D Kempanna, president of the Karnataka State Contractors Association, at great personal risk. Right at the outset, they had also stated that proof would be hard to gather as the alleged bribes were made in cash.
The Lokayukta report, however, slams them for making “baseless” allegations. It noted that “… this complaint would have to be closed as there is no aspect to be investigated”.
The current Congress government rode to power in May 2023 with this allegation as one of its main planks, even coming with campaigns such as “PayCM” in the run up to the election.
In Ambikapathy’s complaint to the Lokayukta, he had alleged that officials of the BBMP East zone had to be paid bribes as 40% commission.
The previous BJP government handed the investigation of the case to the Lokayukta in an order dated March 2023.
According to TheFile, which has a copy of the report, Ambikapathy was not awarded the contract of the park six years ago. That contract was actually awarded to NM Krishnamurthy for an amount of Rs 5.2 crore. No bribes were paid for this work according to the Lokayukta, TheFile reported.
“When checking with other departments regarding other contracts given to Ambikapathy, it was found that no other contract had been given to him according to documents submitted by BMMP East sub-division officials,” TheFile reported quoting the Lokayukta report.
The Lokayukta also found that in the five years before 2022, Ambikapathy had not received any contracts and so, the allegations made in the private television channel are “pure lies”, TheFile reported.
However, President of the Kalaburagi District Contractors' Association Jagannath Shegaji has said that the Lokayukta report pertained to Ambikapathy's allegations and the allegations were true.
Addressing the media in Kalaburagi on Tuesday, he said, "The allegation that the State Contractors' Association has made against the BJP with regard to the demand of 40% commission is true. We have submitted the relevant documents to the Justice Nagamohan Das Commission," Jagannath said.
In April 2022, Shegaji had alleged that around 60 MLAs from all parties were demanding commission up to 40% from contractors.
The state government had in August 2023 appointed retired Karnataka High Court judge Justice HN Nagamohan Das to look into the allegations.
D Kempanna, who is now deceased, had submitted a tranche of documents to the Commission in November 2023. He had told The Hindu at the time that although more documents were available, many contractors had backed out from submitting documents after allegedly being threatened by local engineers. Contractors had allegedly been warned that they would not be given work in future if they deposed before the Commission.