Karnataka Cabinet Decides To Set Up Team Of Sr Officials To Review D'Cunha's Covid Scam Report

In its report, the retired High Court Judge John Michael D'Cunha has alleged financial irregularities to the tune of several hundreds of crores in Covid management and pointed out that related files are missing. A committee of senior bureaucrats has been formed to review the report and submit its observations to the Cabinet within a month.

Bengaluru:Karnataka Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has decided to set up a team of officials headed by the state chief secretary to review the report presented by retired High Court Judge John Michael D'Cunha in connection with the alleged Covid scam during the erstwhile BJP-led government and submit a report within a month.

Law Minister HK Patil told this at a press conference after the cabinet meeting on Thursday. Discussions were held on the Justice John Michael D'Cunha report that has mentioned about alleged irregularities amounting to several hundreds of crores in Covid management. The report has also pointed out that some related files are missing.

A team of senior officials including chief secretary, additional chief secretary of finance department and others have been instructed to look into the matter and submit a report as soon as possible.

In August 2023, the Congress government had set up a Commission of Inquiry headed by John Michael D' Cunha to investigate into the alleged Covid scam in the health department and medical education department during the tenure of the BJP government. The commission aimed at investigating the Covid management, procurement of medicines, masks, equipment and supplies, oxygen management, deaths due to lack of oxygen during the pandemic.

The Commission of Inquiry led by retired Justice John Michael Cunha had prepared the report and submitted it to Siddaramaiah last week.

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