Union corporate affairs minister Sachin Pilot on Friday said the Centre would be glad to extend all possible cooperation to help the duped small investors in Orissa if the state government referred the multi-crore chit-fund scam to the CBI for investigation.
“If the Orissa government asks for CBI probe into the chit-fund scam, we are willing extend all possible cooperation,” Mr Pilot said while interacting to mediapersons here at Congress Bhavan.
Stating that thousands of investors were cheated in Orissa by fraud chit-fund firms, the Union minister said the state government should book them under criminal charges and ensure that they were handed out “strictest” and “exemplary punishments”.
Maintaining that every chit-fund company has to register itself with the registrar of chits in the state in which it operates, Mr Pilot said it is the responsibility of the state government to monitor and regulate the functioning of these firms.
The minister announced that his ministry would open a branch of serious fraud investigation office in Bhubaneswar to assist the state government to deal with big fraud cases.
Prior to his interaction with media, Mr Pilot also met senior officials of the home department and police officials and discussed with them about the chit-fund scams in the state. Sources said the minister has sought a detail report from the Orissa police on the total volume of scam and number of people affected by it.