Jumbo Covid centres irregularities: Despite objections from civic accounts officer, LHMS’s bills were cleared, says ED

The agency’s chargesheet is against LHMS as well as two then civic health officials, including the Dahisar facility’s then dean, Kishore Bisure. LHMS allegedly had neither experience in providing medical services nor adequate staff. It is accused of receiving around ₹31.84 crore from the BMC as part of the contract

Mumbai: The ED probe into alleged irregularities in the Lifeline Hospital Management Services (LHMS) contract awarded by the BMC for two Jumbo Covid Centres has revealed that a civic accounts officer linked to one such facility in Dahisar consistently raised questions on LHMS’s irregular bills but had to clear them eventually.

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The ED chargesheet states that the issue of LHMS’s alleged irregularities were discussed at civic meetings at which a senior BMC officer allegedly asked the firm to comply with the requirements as demanded by the accounts officer but also asked the latter to clear the bills. The firm, however, did not comply, according to the accounts officer’s witness statement recorded by the ED. The BMC accounts officer was with the Dahisar facility between June 17, 2020 and October 15, 2020, after which she took voluntary retirement.

The agency’s chargesheet is against LHMS as well as two then civic health officials, including the Dahisar facility’s then dean, Kishore Bisure. LHMS allegedly had neither experience in providing medical services nor adequate staff. It is accused of receiving around ₹31.84 crore from the BMC as part of the contract, even though 50 to 60 per cent of the medical staff at the centres for which it billed the civic body was allegedly non-existent.

In her witness statement, the female accounts officer said that she had raised objections to the irregular invoices raised by LHMS and also informed Bisure as well as a then deputy municipal commissioner (DMC) and an additional municipal commissioner (Addl MC) about them. “She initially did not clear the first invoice dated August 29, 2020 of M/s Lifeline Hospital Management Services and sent a letter of audit objections to the then Dean of Dahisar Jumbo Covid Centre, Kishore Bisure, on September 5, 2020, mentioning that these invoices were incomplete as no staff list and attendances were attached with them and raised queries and objections in the invoices raised by M/s Lifeline Hospital Management Services,” states the chargesheet.

After this, a meeting was called by the Addl MC on September 13, 2020, for various issues related to the Dahisar facility, in which the issue of non-payment of the bills of LHMS was raised by the latter’s representative. Later, the Addl MC allegedly directed the accounts officer to clear the invoices without the complete documents, and also instructed LHMS to provide the required documents such as a list of doctors and other staff in due course.

After the meeting, the accountant, as directed, cleared the first three bills on September 16, 2020 without the complete documents—however, even after that, no documents and staff details were submitted to her by the accused firm. In the next meeting convened by the Addl MC on October 7, he allegedly verbally directed the accounts officer to clear the next bills of LHMS without the complete documents. On the same day, the three bills were raised, with a few alleged discrepancies and incomplete documents, and as per his directions, she cleared the invoices.

The ED also recorded the witness statement of another BMC accounts officer who had allegedly cleared all invoices of LHMS. He claimed that when he joined the facility in October 2020, there were instructions from Bisure that there was pressure from two of his “seniors” that invoices of LHMS were to be cleared immediately.

The ED probe also revealed that another civic female health official at the Dahisar facility had not cleared LHMS’s six invoices amounting to ₹1.71 crore, as Mumbai had been hit by a cyclone, Tauktae, during the relevant period and patients had been shifted to other hospitals. During this period, there was no staff on most days, and yet LHMS allegedly raised invoices for the period.

The BMC paid ₹31.84 crore in all to LHMS after cutting TDS. “All the payments in the form of bank account transfers and TDS, totalling to ₹32.44 crore, made to the firm are nothing but the proceeds of crime,” states the chargesheet.

The BMC paid ₹31.84 crore in all to LHMS after cutting TDS. “All the payments in the form of bank account transfers and TDS, totalling to ₹32.44 crore, made to the firm are nothing but the proceeds of crime,” states the chargesheet.