Amaravati: The AP Finance Minister’s Office (FMO) has refuted the allegations of misusing of funds levelled by TDP senior leader and former Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu as baseless and fabricated. While questioning the motive of the former Finance Minister for making unfounded allegations, it asked if he was deliberately misleading the people.

Demanding an investigation into the alleged misappropriation of Rs 48,000 crore, Yanamala, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, had asked, “Into whose pockets has Rs 48,000 crore gone.”

In its press release, the FMO said when the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc in people’s lives and destroyed the state economy, the government took things in its hand and helped the needy people in these difficult times while managing the economy, it also ensured no irregularities took place in the management of public funds. It said when the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) questioned the state government on the issue, the Finance Secretary wrote an explanatory letter to the CAG.

Instead of appreciating the work done by the state government, the opposition party has accused the state leadership of misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs 48,000 crores. The FMO said the Finance Department did not spend Rs 48,000 crores through Special Bills (during FY 2020-21) and it made only book adjustments towards the end of the financial year. This norm existed in 2018-19 when Yanamal was the Finance Minister of state.

The FMO said there are Special Bills in the Comprehensive Financial Management System (CFMS) which was set up by the previous TDP (Telugu Desam Party) government. It said in order to recognise the ‘book adjustment transactions’, these were termed as Special Bills.

It said, in 2020-21, Rs 65,447 crore was disbursed to people under various welfare schemes. “ Our government focused more on hand holding the poor during the Covid-19 crisis than spending money on infrastructural development. The TDP has no right to talk on welfare,” the FMO said.

It further said there’s a stark difference between the TDP and YSRCP governments when it comes to how they treat people, as the former would want to spend Rs 1,400 crores to build an iconic bridge while the YS Jagan government would only spend Rs 140 crores to construct the bridge and use the remaining Rs 1,260 crores for the welfare of people in the state.