If corrupt taxmen have been stripping the coffers of its rightful due, whistleblowers will claim Rs25,000 for each exposé.
Corruption now costs the government in more ways than imagined. If corrupt taxmen have been stripping the coffers of its rightful due, whistleblowers will claim Rs25,000 for each exposé. Barely a month after daring citizens to spot bribery at a major inter-state border checkpost, Kerala finance minister Dr TM Thomas Isaac ate his claim that the taxes department was corruption-free.
Isaac had announced a cash reward of Rs25,000 to a Manorama News team, which has been into a series of sting operations to expose corruption in various government departments in the state. “The recording showed inspector Hassan Pasha and peon Sanjeev Raghavan of the Valayar commercial tax checkpost taking bribes. Reporter VR Prathap and cameraman Unni Kottakkal will be given Rs25,000 at a function in Palakkad after the budget session,” Isaac told reporters at a news conference in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday. He added that the erring staffers have been suspended and criminal charges have been initiated against them.
Claiming on January 6 that the state treasury department was corruption free, Isaac announced a reward of Rs25,000 to anyone who can prove otherwise. The economist-turned-minister is on an overdrive after his path-breaking reforms to clean up the border checkposts paid dividends. Valayar checkpost, the vital link between Kerala and Tamil Nadu, has been declared corruption-free by a unique system of social auditing, he claimed. But on Thursday and Friday, a series of candid camera footage reminded the authorities of the rot that refused to go away with the police, revenue, taxes and animal husbandry departments all in the dock.
Though Isaac came clean on the first day, when footage of policemen fleecing lorry drivers at Valayar came up, he had to stick to his words after taxmen followed suit on Friday. He has also promised more such rewards for any whistleblower. Isaac also plans to expand the scheme to other checkposts.
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