Bhubaneswar, May 26: Union minister of state for statistics and programme implementation Srikant Jena today slammed chief minister Naveen Patnaik, labelling him “brand ambassador” of a fraudulent deposit collection company, Sea Shore, which has allegedly swindled crores of public money.

“Had he not attended the launch of its (Sea Shore’s) television channel, things would have been different. Poor investors could have been saved. Only a CBI inquiry will reveal the truth. If the state government is not willing to handover the case to the CBI, the crime branch inquiry should be monitored by Orissa High Court,” Jena said. He said Naveen had also unveiled the company’s brochure on the occasion.

Jena’s reaction came in the wake of finance minister Prasanna Acharya’s statement that the chief minister should not be dragged into the deposit collection scam.

Targeting Naveen, Jena said: “The chief minister’s presence had itself built confidence among lakhs of poor investors. The crime branch inquiry is only aimed at protecting the chief minister. The way the investigation is moving, it will not reach any conclusion.”

Jena said Sea Shore had mobilised all its agents and a number of depositors for its channel launch ceremony in 2011. “Naveen’s presence at the ceremony sent a clear message that the company had the government’s support,” he added.

He also emphasised that since the chief minister was backing the company, Acharya, during his tenure as health minister, had gone out of his way to “shower favours” on the company. “The health department under Prasanna Acharya had handed over nearly nine primary health care centres to Sea Shore for its management despite protests in Balasore district against it,” he said.

Jena alleged that the company had a grip over the administration so much so that rules were relaxed in its favour.

“The sports and tourist complex on Mahanadi river in Cuttack and another at a hot spring at Atri, Khurda, were handed over to Sea Shore. Similarly, a number of cold storage units were also handed over to it,” he said.

With the entire administration hobnobbing with Sea Shore and Naveen backing it, investigation against the company now was bound to be diluted, he alleged. “Until the investigation is over, the chief minister should step down. During the inquiry, if it is proved that Naveen is innocent, he would come back,” Jena said.

On the other hand, finance minister Acharya said it was government policy to handover primary health care centres to private parties and that many NGOs and other institutions had also applied for it. “The management of primary health care centres was allotted to the private parties in remote areas where doctors and other medical staff were not keen on working. There is nothing wrong with the policy. The state government is also handing over medical colleges to private parties in public-private-partnership mode to develop the health infrastructure of the state,” the minister said.

Pradeep Sethy, chief of another fraudulent company Artha Tatwa, was sent to jail after his bail plea was rejected. The police seized a few costly vehicles of the company. The police have, so far, lodged 85 cases against fraud deposit collection companies and arrested 170 persons. Besides, the economic offences wing of the crime branch has lodged 27 cases against 24 companies.