Gujarat: Bribery cases with Anti-Corruption Bureau rise by 120% in 2018

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) seems to be in the thick of action these days. The probe agency has registered more than twice the number of cases this year, including a sharp rise in trapping class I officials, as compared with the previous year, officials said.

In 2018, the ACB registered 323 cases till mid-December, as against 148 in the whole of 2017, an increase of almost 120 per cent. Of the 323 cases, 216 were traps, 28 decoys, 12 disproportionate assets cases, and 67 others, ACB statistics show.

As many as 810 people were arrested in connection to these cases, which included 32 Class I officials, 88 Class II, 327 Class III, and 12 Class IV government employees. A total of 251 private citizens, who were assisting the government servants in receiving the bribery amount, were among those arrested.

The number of bribery cases and arrests made in the current year was also the highest in at-least five years.

ACB statistics show that 2017 saw 148 cases, and 216 arrests, while there were 257 cases and 431 arrests in the year before that.

In 2015, a total of 305 cases were lodged, while 445 persons were arrested. Similarly, in 2014, the number of cases registered was 275, and the number of people arrested was 395.

DP Chudasama, assistant director of Anti-Corruption Bureau, attributed the sharp increase in number of bribery cases to greater awareness among the masses.

"People are now more confident in coming forward and registering their complaints against government employees," he said.

The ACB figures show that even conviction rate in bribery cases has increased. In 2018, the conviction rate was 34 per cent, compared with 29 per cent in 2017, 23 per cent in 2016, 19 per cent in 2015, and 30 per cent in the year before that.

"We are concentrating more on recovering concrete evidence in the cases. We are also taking greater help of Forensic Science Laboratory, which has made a big difference," Chudasama said.

The ACB has been on a roll in the past few months. The biggest bribery racket busted by the agency this year was of Gujarat Land Development Corporation (GLDC), where funds were embezzled by undertaking projects only on paper. The body was wound up recently in view of the scam.

A deputy superintendent of police, a police inspector, an assistant commissioner of income tax department, two AMC engineers, an enforcement officer with PF department, and a geologist are among those who have been booked by the Anti Corruption Bureau sleuths in the past few weeks. Last week, a woman chartered accountant from Ahmedabad was caught while accepting bribe of Rs8 lakh on behalf of I-T assistant commissioner Sureshchand Meena, who is still absconding.