Army officer charged with corruption, fraud during demonetisation period
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The Indian Army is set to court martial an officer on 12 different charges of corruption and fraud relating to the officer's handling of note exchange during the period of demonetisation in November 2016, an NDTV report claimed. The general court martial is scheduled to begin from January 10, 2022, at the Western Command headquarters where disciplinary proceedings in the cases related to corruption in demonetisation have been going on.
The Captain-rank officer allegedly did not submit the record of withdrawn notes held in the Army central base post office in Delhi. The Army Captain was posted in the Army Postal Services in the Delhi area during the demonetisation process when the alleged acts of corruption took place, government sources told ANI.
In addition to this, he is also accused of facilitating note exchange on days when note exchange was forbidden. The officer and his accomplice used over 5000 forged forms and numerous fake identity certificates to effect the note exchange.
A similar case was reported from Chandigarh in June this year, where a Brigadier, Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel, Captain and Warrant Officer were court-martialled for illegel note-exchange worth 6 lakh at the same central army postal base in Delhi. The accused also pressurised the in-charge of the postal base to not submit a report on the scam, according to media reports.
A Lieutenant Colonel was last week convicted by a court-martial for offences in exchanging old currency notes for new ones. Army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane has been very strict against cases of financial corruption in the forces and many officers have been punished in such cases.
"We will not tolerate any such incidents and we will come down heavily on whoever tries to malign Army through very incorrect activities. There is no question of shielding anybody who is indulging in such kind of malpractices," the general was quoted as saying to ANI in March following a question paper leak and recruitment scandal in the Army.