New Delhi, Feb. 29: The CBI probe into the Central Government Health Services scam has revealed that former director-general Jawahar Lal had changed the list of chemists in 1998 allegedly to favour some drug suppliers.

A five-member Union health ministry committee, headed by former additional director of health services Aruna Sharma, had approved in 1998 a new list of chemists from whom the CGHS could procure drugs for 23 dispensaries, sources said. The other source of drugs is the Medical Stores Organisation, a concern of the CGHS.

After the committee cleared the list, controller of accounts Jawahar Thakur forwarded it to then additional director Lal rather than the then director-general for final clearance. The controller of accounts claimed he had routed the list to Lal for clearance as the director-general was on leave.

However, sources alleged that the list was routed to Lal to bypass the director-general who was not part of the clique. This was evident as the officer was on duty when the file was sent to Lal, the sources said.

Union minister for small-scale industries and Northeast C.P. Thakur was then the health minister and the premises of two of his staff officers — former officer on special duty Gunjan Prasad and additional secretary Sudharshan Kumar — were raided on January 19 after the CBI registered two cases to investigate the CGHS scam.

The Union minister, however, had denied being aware of any irregularities during his tenure.

The documents seized from the ministry have revealed that the changes were made in the list to benefit some chemists. “The idea was to empanel chemists who give the maximum cut on the purchase of a drug,” alleged a CBI source.

Lal, according to sources, said he had tampered with the list at the behest of the controller of accounts. The changes in the list were not limited to altering names, the sources said. They alleged that the chemists were also allowed to cater to more CGHS dispensaries so that they could get more purchase orders.

The premises of Lal and Jawahar Thakur were among the 12 searched by the sleuths on January 19. However, the latter continues to hold office, despite allegedly being involved in the case, sources said.

The CBI is scrutinising files on the tenders the health ministry had floated to purchase drugs. Bureau officials said more persons would be questioned once they were through with the paperwork.

The CGHS procures drugs worth Rs 150 crore annually. After 1998, the organisation started purchasing most of the drugs directly from chemists.

“The chemists formed a cartel and used money power to influence decisions regarding the empanelment of chemists,” a CBI source alleged. The chemists would charge exorbitant rates, give bills of patients who never visited the dispensary and overcharge sales tax.

The CBI has also recovered CGHS prescriptions from some chemists’ homes. The sleuths are trying to ascertain whether the people whose names appear on the prescriptions exist and whether they were ill when the prescriptions were issued.