Excise department defends move not to seek CBI probe

The Excise department has defended its move not asking the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a probe into the multi-crore rupee excise rebate scam, in which 46 excise officers, were suspended.

"Immediately after the rebate scam was unearthed, the vigilance wing of the excise department initiated an inquiry to ascertain the role of the officers of the department. In fact, the decision to suspend 42 officers at one go, was taken in consultation with the directorate general of vigilance," Sushil Solanki, excise commissioner, Surat - I, told Business Standard.

"As far as a CBI probe is concerned, there were two options. Either we could have referred the case to the agency, or it could have picked up the case on its own. We decided against approaching the CBI since the vigilance wing had already initiated an in-depth inquiry in the scam. Approaching the CBI would have meant duplication of work," he said.

"Another reason for not seeking a CBI probe was the fact that the agency would mainly ascertain whether any of the excise officers had accepted money from the fraudsters, and to trace the money. However, since a long time had already gone by, we believe it would have been very difficult for the agency to trace any money," he said.

In reply to a query, the excise commissioner said, "The probe being conducted by the vigilance department in the excise rebate scam will be as impartial and as fair as any CBI probe. The probe is going ahead at full steam, and we are expecting a report within a month or two."

"Once we get the report, we would start filing chargesheets against the guilty. The wrongdoers, if any, would not be spared and stern action would be taken against them," he said.

"Forty-two excise officers were suspended in December in connection to the excise rebate scam. Twenty-six of these officers, who were prima facie found to be less involved, were reinstated in February. These officers were posted outside Surat, while the suspension of the remaining 16 officers was extended. We would be meeting in May to review the suspension of these officers," he said.