9 LNJP staff suspended

Transferred money from govt hospital's salary fund

Nine employees of Lok Nayak Hospital have been suspended for allegedly embezzling
hospital funds for the past two years.

The officials were found tampering with the IT enabled payment system through Electronic Clearing Services (ECS).

Though the hospital authorities did not confirm the amount, the staff members were allegedly transferring to their accounts double or triple the amount of their original salaries on some months.

Two other persons, who are not on the payroll of the government hospital are also involved in the scam.

“We are not aware of the exact amount now but it is a considerable amount of money as they have been embezzling the funds for two years now. There are two private individuals involved who are not on our payroll,” said Dr Siddharth Ramji, medical superintendent, LNJP.

Inquiry committee

An inquiry committee of finance and IT officers was set up after a fraud was suspected. The preliminary report revealed misappropriation of funds through ECS transfer from the salary account of the hospital by an assistant accounts officer and eight group-D staffers, and two other individuals.

The illegal ECS transfer seems to have been affected by offline manipulation of  employees' electronic salary pay bills. The modus operandi showed the involvement of persons equipped with a sound knowledge of accounting and IT system.

The hospital authorities  have lodged an FIR against the 11 accused. The bank accounts of the suspended employees have been frozen and the process begun for recovery of the  unauthorised ECS transfers.

Meanwhile, the Finance Department has ordered a special audit of financial transactions at the hospital by an external team. A security audit of the financial and accounting system to strengthen them is also on.