Ranchi, Nov. 25: Jharkhand High Court today took strong exception to the delay in the prosecution of Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) officials who had allegedly siphoned off Rs 2.38 crore of public money.

The high court directed RMC to produce all the vouchers against which the payments were made to the accused officials and how a part of the money had been adjusted by the civic body.

A division bench comprising chief justice Gyan Sudha Misra and justice D.K. Sinha also directed the state government to produce the audit reports of the additional accountant general who had audited the RMC accounts.

The CBI had also checked the vouchers and inquired into the matter earlier at the instance of the high court.

The bench directed the RMC counsel to produce all documents that had been examined by the investigating agency for scrutiny.

The bench observed that the vouchers and documents of the RMC produced before the high court would be examined minutely by the high court auditors of to ascertain the authenticity of the accounts.

The court also directed the civic body to furnish details of expenditure incurred by it for the period between 1980 and 1996 when municipal officials were doled out advances, which had not been accounted for.

The CBI after holding a detailed enquiry tabled a confidential report before the High Court confirming involvement of 29 RMC officials in corruption and embezzlement of funds.

The agency, in its report, has named officers of the corporation many of whom have retired from service but were involved in the embezzlement of government funds.