36 officials chargesheeted for corruption

Kochi, July 18 (UNI) The CBI today filed chargesheets against 36 Central Excise officials, who worked in Customs at Karippur Airport near Kozhikode, for criminal conspiracy and accepting huge amount of bribes for Customs clearance, from passengers arriving from abroad during August to November 2005.

In November 2005, the CBI, after receiving a complaint by fax from a passenger from Abu Dhabi, conducted a surprise check at the airport and recovered the bribe passed on by the complainant to two Customs officials, besides huge amount of Indian and foreign currencies from the Customs Officers Rest Room, Superintendent of Police T Vikram said in a release here.

A case was then registered against the two officials for accepting bribe from the passenger.

Investigations revealed that corruption was rampant in the airport and that the daily bribe collections amounted to lakhs of rupees. The 'collections were passed on after each flight to private persons who held these huge funds and the entire operation was well organised.

The money was distributed among the Customs officials during fortnightly settlements based on certain formula.

While 36 officials, (one Assistant Commissioner, 13 Superintendents, 17 Inspectors, 2 Havaldars and 3 Sepoys) were chargesheeted, the CBI had recommended departmental action against the other Customs officials, who worked at the airport during the relevant period.

The chargesheets were filed at the CBI special court here.

UNI