CAG flagged ₹3.5k crore irregularities under AAP’s tenure: BJP

Delhi cabinet minister Pravesh Verma on Sunday alleged that Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) reports tabled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the Delhi Assembly in the ongoing monsoon session highlighted “financial irregularities worth ₹3,500 crores” during the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) tenure in Delhi

Delhi cabinet minister Pravesh Verma on Sunday alleged that Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) reports tabled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the Delhi Assembly in the ongoing monsoon session highlighted “financial irregularities worth ₹3,500 crores” during the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) tenure in Delhi.

Delhi cabinet minister Pravesh Verma (HT Archive)

“(Former) AAP government flouted rules, conducted 1,185 manual tenders and inserted arbitration clauses in tenders, indulging in large-scale irregularities,” Verma alleged at a presser.

He said in 18 months of the BJP government, 24 CAG reports have been made public which have “cumulatively flagged irregularities worth over ₹15,000 crores”.

“Thousands of crore in tax revenue was outstanding from certain businesses in Delhi, and the AAP government had failed to recover this amount for more than five years. GST department, in collusion with certain industrialists and businessmen, allowed their outstanding GST liabilities to remain pending. There were 8,334 businesses whose GST registrations had been cancelled, yet they continued to generate e-way bills,” Verma alleged.

Verma alleged that an investigation into 70 such cases found 344 instances of non-compliance, with a revenue impact of ₹3,071.92 crore, and a turnover mismatch of ₹3,710.17 crore.

The CAG report tabled on August 7 flagged multiple revenue leakages, procedural lapses, and avoidable expenditure across several Delhi government departments for 2022-23, identifying irregularities running into thousands of crores in tax administration, while also raising concerns over electricity subsidies, public procurement, and project execution.

Over the power subsidy scheme, Verma alleged that there were “50,000 consumers whose electricity bills remained zero for 12 consecutive months, yet they were provided subsidies amounting to ₹17.81 crore, thereby causing a loss to the government exchequer.”

Citing irregularities in the tender process, Verma said that, as per prevailing rules, it is mandatory to conduct tenders online, but the “AAP government conducted 1,185 manual tenders, in which 14,527 bids were received”.

“The rates were effectively decided in a predetermined manner through mutual understanding among the bidders,” Verma alleged.

Verma said that the project to construct a new block at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital has witnessed a “cost escalation from the cost per bed of ₹33 lakh to ₹72 lakh.”

“AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal will be made accountable for every act of corruption committed during his 11 years in office,” Verma added.

Meanwhile, Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta is likely to lay a CAG report on “State Finances for the year 2024-25” on Monday.

HT reached out to AAP for comment but had not received a response at the time of going to press.