Railways removes PSU CMD amidst allegations of financial misconduct, misuse of position

Days after allegations of financial misconduct and misuse of position came up, the Indian Railways removed the chairman and managing director of its PSU Indian Rail Finance Corporation (IRFC), Amitabh Banerjee.

Banerjee, an Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS) officer, faced several allegations including using his home as a company guest house, reimbursing personal medical bills of family members, and getting the company to pay long-term visa fee for travel abroad on a personal passport after his retirement. However, Banerjee has refuted all the charges.

The decision to take action against him came in the wake of a vigilance probe by the Railways, after a complaint by a whistleblower.

The Railway Ministry has asked the Director of Finance of the PSU, Shelly Verma, to exercise the powers of CMD for three months.

Banerjee was given a vigilance clearance by the Railways in October 2020, allegedly without taking into account that the CBI had by then named him in an FIR about a multi-crore case of financial bungling at another PSU where he had earlier worked, sources said.

IRFC is a public sector undertaking (PSU) owned by the Railways which lends money to the national transporter for the purchase of rolling stock and, of late, creation of infrastructure assets.

Recently, the government sacked National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited MD Satish Agnihotri over corruption allegations. The NJSRC is building bullet train between Ahmedabad and Mumbai.