Guwahati, Sept. 10: Gauhati High Court has upheld the 2006 conviction by a special CBI court of kingpin Rajendra Prasad Bora in the multi-crore letters of credit scam.

CBI standing counsel P.N. Choudhury told The Telegraph today that a single-judge bench of Justice Indira Shah passed the order on Tuesday.

He said Justice Shah rejected the appeal filed by Bora challenging the order passed by the special CBI court in the special case number 43/04 on December 29, 2006.

Bora was sentenced to five years' imprisonment.

Choudhury said Bora was convicted under Sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 120B (criminal conspiracy), Section 477A (fraudulently destroying or defacing, or attempting to destroy or deface, or secreting a will) of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act.

The letters of credit scam took place in the state animal husbandry and veterinary department between 1985 and 1992 and ran into Rs 400 crore.

In Bora's case, about Rs 60.90 lakh was fraudulently withdrawn from the Sonari sub-division treasury by submitting false letters of credit.

Apart from Bora, a businessman known for shifting political loyalty between the AGP and the Congress, others convicted and sentenced in 2006 were then Sonari sub-divisional animal husbandry officer Inamul Haque, accountant Mukibul Hussain and then Sivasagar treasury and accounts officer Tankeswar Saikia.

Two others - Achyut Barpujari and his wife Rajita Barpujari - who were Bora's business associates were sentenced to two years' rigorous imprisonment.

The CBI had even named former chief ministers Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and Hiteswar Saikia and several former AGP and Congress ministers. But then governor S.K. Sinha refused prosecution permission to CBI against Mahanta since there was no prima facie charge.

Bora's wife Indira and T.B. Dutta, then director of the animal husbandry and veterinary department, who were chargesheeted by CBI in the case, were later acquitted.

The CBI had filed the chargesheet in the Bora case on March 27, 1996.

A CBI official who refused to be identified said scam relates to the blatant misuse of letters of credit by officials of the department.

The letters of credit is a regulatory mechanism devised by the state government to keep expenditure under control.

When the government earmarks say Rs 10 crore for a project, the entire amount is not released in one go. It is released in phases and letters of credit are issued, which can be cashed when required.

The letters of credit were subverted and several hundreds of crores of rupees fraudulently withdrawn from government treasuries under the pretext of implementing welfare schemes.

Officials tampered with figures on memos and files and fudged signatures so brazenly that investigating officials were surprised that it did not come to the notice of their superiors for so long.