Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa can be prosecuted for corruption, Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde said on Wednesday after submitting his report on illegal mining in the state and added that a decision on the matter rested with governor H.R. Bhardwaj.
Some firms involved in illegal mining gave donations to trusts run by Yeddyurappa’s kin and also purchased land from them paying exorbitant prices, Hegde said. “Because of this, some files that should have been sent to the central government for action (against these firms) were not sent,” he said at a press conference immediately after submitting his voluminous report, running into thousands of pages.
“This may come within the purview of the Prevention of Corruption Act and action can be taken against the chief minister. I have made a recommendation to the governor to take further steps in this regard. “Since the competent authority to take action against the chief minister is the governor, we have sent a copy of the report to him,” Hegde said. According to the ombudsman, whose report indicts Yeddyurappa amongst others for illegal mining: "A certain company which is a company of iron ore has donated Rs 10 crores to a trust managed by the chief minister’s family members and purchased land for a consideration of Rs 20 crores whereas as per the guidance value it would not have been more than Rs 1.20 crores.”
He said that the whole scam had cost the exchequer Rs 16,085 crores between 2006-10. Hegde added that his team examined 400,000 records and correlated 50 lakhs entries, which along with this annexure has 25,000 pages. “My part of the report is 9,043 pages,” he said.