Comptroller and Auditor General have said that the staff at post offices has misappropriated Rs 95.62 crore of public money between November 2002 and September 2021. It is the money which citizens invest in post office savings, including schemes like recurring deposits, time deposits, national savings certificates, kisan vikas patras, monthly income account scheme, public provident fund, sukanya samriddhi accounts and senior citizens savings scheme.
On Monday, CAG’s audit report on finance and communication was tabled in Parliament. It reported that postal staff in five circles made fraudulent withdrawals worth Rs 62.05 crore from closed accounts, which were shown as active with fake balances and then closed again. Also, it found instances of database manipulation by opening fake accounts, making fake entries of deposits, and subsequent withdrawal of money worth Rs 15.98 crore.
In eight circles, Postal staff withdrew the money worth Rs 9.16 crore deposited by customers. Entry of deposit was done in their passbooks, but the amount was not credited to their bank accounts. In four circles, fraudulent withdrawals of Rs 4.08 crore were made from saving accounts of customers with fake signatures and thumb impressions facilitated by the postal staff.
There were also instances of unauthorised use of login credentials by other postal staff or outsiders, which led to the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 3 crore in four circles. In collusion with outsiders in two circles, Postal staff opened accounts for fake deposits of Rs 1.35 crore, which were withdrawn later.
While the DoP (Department of Posts) is believed to have recovered Rs 14.39 crore (inclusive penalty/ interest of Rs 40.85 lakh) from the concerned persons involved, an amount of Rs 81.64 crore is yet to be recovered.