Social Welfare Minister Paul Lyngdoh on Friday rejected an article alleging that he was protecting his party colleague, who was former minister in-charge of the department, by sharing the findings of an inquiry report which had concluded that the allegations of rice scam are baseless.
Speaking to reporters, Lyngdoh said that the Inquiry Commission headed by Justice (Retd) Mool Chand Garg had submitted a very clear report indicating that there was no basis of allegation made against the company ‘M/s Continental Milkose’ under the name of the scam.
The inquiry commission had spent about 10 months conducting the probe into the alleged scam after one lakh bags of rice weighing 50 kg each was seized by Assam police in 2021.
He said the article written by Patricia Mukhim was very derogatory and was a deliberate attack on his personality by alleging that he had acted as a UDP man to protect the former minister of the department and that the public must get to read all inquiry reports as each of the scams involved public funds.
“But I would strongly urge upon her to first read this report before linking this to the UDP, to Paul and Kyrmen Shylla. The inquiry was conducted by a noted judge,” Lyngdoh said while at the same time insisted that Mukhim tendered a public apology.
“Yes, she has to (tender public apology) for making such allegations as this is a commission that had been duly notified, they had gone, done its homework and it is like questioning the integrity of Justice (Retd) Mool Chand Garg,” he added.
Lyngdoh said that the article seems to be politically motivated.
“I could sense that there is certain grouse against me and the UDP and to say that I am defending a colleague who held this portfolio in the previous government when in fact the report was submitted only during the tenure of this current government, how do you justify that? The inquiry was ongoing and the report has only reached us now and based on this report and views of the law department and views of the AG then only we came to a conclusion that the commission had done due diligence and therefore, no need for us to press further.”