Patna/Bhagalpur, Aug. 25: A team of officials from the accountant-general (AG)'s office visited Bhagalpur today and inquired about fraudulent transfer of government funds over Rs 1,000 crore to the accounts of the non-government organisation Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti Limited.

The AG's office swung into action almost 18 days after the scam surfaced in Bhagalpur. The first FIR was lodged against government employees, bank officials and the office-bearers of the NGO with the Tilka Manjhi police station in Bhagalpur district, around 250 km east of Patna, on August 7.

The four-member AG team visited the offices of the district rural development agency, welfare department, land acquisition and Nazarat (treasury) and inquired about some documents. The employees and officials of the department concerned were asked to be present during the team's visit.

Authoritative sources said that another team of the finance department was conducting an investigation of its own. The members of the team spent more than six hours in different offices located in the collectorate premises and inquired about the documents related to the fund transfer scam.

Apparently agitated over the exercise of the AG team and the finance department officials, a clerk posted at the collectorate office said: " Aaj neend khuli hai. Itne samay tak kahan the (They have woken up now. Where were they for such a long time?)"

A senior official associated with the investigation said that the SIT had been searching for the auditors and audit agencies hired by Srijan to conduct audits of its accounts since its inception in 1996.

"We have contacted the local office of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India to help us with contact numbers and addresses of those auditors hired by the NGO for conducting audit of accounts. They have promised to help us," a police official said under the cover of anonymity.

The official revealed that the NGO managed to obtain huge loans from nationalised banks on the basis of forged audit of accounts and later also set up a cooperative bank for women. The district cooperative office and the officials of the cooperative department have been assigned the task to prepare the list of auditors who had served Bhagalpur between 2003 and 2017.

SIT sources said documents related to Srijan's audit were seized during search of its office located at Sabour in Bhagalpur. The documents suggested that a Patna-based firm had conducted the audit for 2015-16. "We have doubts over the fishy claims in the balance sheet and have referred it to the audit office of the district cooperative department," a source in the SIT said.

The audit reports assume significance because the scam went unnoticed for long as the NGO managed to furnish doctored bank statements and passbooks with the help of bankers and government officials, another investigating officer said.

The sleuths of the SIT laid their hands on a letter purportedly written by a senior IAS officer who was then posted with the Bihar state cooperative department, allowing Srijan to conduct its audit by any private auditor/audit agency.

The officer, who is now on central deputation, had passed the order in contravention of the existing norms that audit of a body registered with the state cooperative department should be done by the government appointed auditor/audit agency.

Observers on financial matters have raised questions over the role of the income tax department as well. "The lapses on part of the IT officials allowed the NGO to flourish and plunder government funds worth several crores of rupees," said a retired finance department officer of Bhagalpur.

An official of the Bhagalpur district cooperative department said that it dealt with audit of the primary agriculture cooperative society, Vyapar mandal (marketing board) and credit societies. "It's not our responsibility to look after the audit of NGOs like Srijan, which have minimum financial transactions and were registered with the Bihar state cooperative department," he said.

The SIT has already arrested a former auditor of the district cooperative department, Satish Chandra Jha, for alleged nexus with Srijan office-bearers.