AP FM Refutes Misappropriation Charges, Explains Book Adjustments Due To Faulty Software Introduced By TDP

NEW DELHI: State Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy on Monday, refuted the Opposition  Telugu Desam Party’s (TDP) charges of misappropriation of about Rs 48,000 crore in Andhra Pradesh during the 2020-21 fiscal and their demand for a financial emergency.

"Looking at the 2022-23 AP budget, the TDP is not in a position to claim that there was any form of corruption and there can never be a situation where bank transactions go wrong," he stated. " How can thousands of crores of public money be misused, '' the Minister questioned. He explained that the government did not spend this amount but only made book adjustments because of faulty financial software introduced by the previous regime.

Speaking to reporters here, Buggana Rajendranath said the current YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government could not make entries of 600-odd bills for an amount of about Rs 48,000 crore due to programming errors in the Comprehensive Finance Management System (CFMS) and this amount was in the form of special bills.

He further explained that the CFMS was introduced in 2018 to ensure accountability on all payments and track the flow of funds in government departments when the TDP was in power.

"There were errors in the CFMS as the previous TDP government introduced it hurriedly in 2018 with a private person as CFO. Since there were no options in the software to enter certain heads, we made only book adjustments. There was no fraud and no cash transaction took place," he clarified.

Our government appointed an IAS officer and took time to figure out the loopholes in the system. As soon as the faults were identified, the government began to rectify them and more than 80 percent of errors have been fixed now, Buggana said.

The state finance secretary had written an explanatory letter to the CAG in this regard, he added. He also stated that when the TDP was in power, it had also made a book adjustment transaction towards the end of the financial year 2018-19.

Speaking further he asked whether a financial emergency be declared because of the Rs 68,000 crore arrears made by the TDP, or due to the mismanagement in the State Capital and Polavaram by them, he scoffed. Is the TDP ready for a CBI inquiry in the Note for Vote Case, the Fibre Grid Case, or the TIDCO scam, Buggana challenged.

Watch: AP Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Counter To TDP Leaders

Also Read: Finance Minister’s Office Tears Into Yanamala for Goebbel's Propaganda Over Misconstrued Book Adjustments