SBI asks officers to meet loan-seekers only at branch-Business Line 06.12.2013
( Read my views given below)
MUMBAI, DEC. 5:
To ensure that the dealings of its officers are more transparent, State Bank of India has asked them not to meet the borrowers, existing as well as prospective, at any location other than the branch.
According to instructions given to field-level functionaries, an officer should hold meetings with the borrower only in the presence of other officers. One-on-one meetings and meetings at the residence of either the officer or the borrower should be avoided.
Further, talks between the bank staff and the borrower, who may come for a loan/enhancement of loan limit/ one-time compromise settlement of a loan that has gone sour, should ideally be video recorded. The emphasis on transparency in officers’ dealings with borrowers comes in the wake of the Central Bureau of Investigation recently registering a case against SBI Deputy Managing Director Shyamal Acharya, Chairman of a New Delhi-based private company and others in an alleged bribery case.
Visitors register
To minimise transgression in the sanction of loans, all branches/offices will have a visitors register, which would contain a trail of visitors meeting bank officials. Packets brought in by customers will be scrutinised at the reception, said a senior bank official having knowledge of the new transparency regime being ushered in.
To minimise transgression in the sanction of loans, all branches/offices will have a visitors register, which would contain a trail of visitors meeting bank officials. Packets brought in by customers will be scrutinised at the reception, said a senior bank official having knowledge of the new transparency regime being ushered in.
Apparently, the management of India’s largest bank wants to ensure that its loan sanction procedures are not undermined and loans are granted solely on the basis of merit of the proposals.
Last week, SBI constituted an internal committee comprising two senior Managing Directors — Hemant Contractor and A. Krishna Kumar — to investigate allegations of wrongdoing against its Deputy Managing Director.
The DMD has been asked to proceed on leave, a bank spokesperson said.
The bank constituted the committee following the CBI registering a case against its official for alleged graft in sanctioning a Rs 75-crore loan to a New Delhi-based private company.
My Views are given below
Management of State Bank of India has taken a
totally unwise, improper, suicidal and childish decision of advising bank
officers not to meet loan seekers at their residence and try to have a video
recording of any talk with loan seeker in the premises of the branch to ensure
transparency.
I would like to ask the bank management whether it is necessary for a corrupt bank officer to ask for and to accept bribe only at the residence of loan seekers. Is it necessary even for a Neta or An advocate to go the residence of his client to ask for gift or to accept gift of bribe? Are corrupt officials and corrupt Netas great fool to talk about bribe in face of video?
Absolutely NO.
A corrupt officer
can indulge in corrupt practice in several other ways. As a matter of fact it
normally so happens. Corrupt officers not always visit the residence or office
of a loan seeker to accept bribe. Rather it is the middlemen or direct loan
seekers who handover the costly gift or bribe in cash to an officer at a secret
but well decided place; it may be a hotel, roadside, in a shop or in house of
broker or anywhere else.
A judge or a court magistrate of an IAS
officer or IPS officer seldom goes to the residence of a person or businessmen
to accept bribe in lieu of extending favour to him .
Can SBI management conclude that there is no
corruption in judiciary or in administrative decisions?
As a matter of fact all corrupt dealings takes
place through middlemen, brokers, advocates, Chartered Accountants, consultants
etc. I am very much astonished to notice inexperienced ,unwise and
childish decision of SBI which may send a wrong message to bank
officers dealing in loans and wrong message to loan seekers too who are
inclined to avail loan by hook or by crook.
If an officer does not go to the site of
project, does not visit the shop and industry of business men and do not visit
the residence of loan seeker, he cannot complete the mandatory requirement of
due diligence.
It is unavoidable for a prudent and wise
banker to conduct due diligence of landed property, business, and the person
before he or she take a decision to sanction a loan for a business or for
retail loan like purchase of car or a home. Bank will not be able to stop loan
for a fake project or to a fake business firm if bankers do not carry out due
diligence of the business and of the purpose for which loan is applied.
It is not out of place to mention here that
even after carrying out so much pre-sanction inquiry by bank officials and post
sanction monitoring by them, banks in public sector are in general facing unprecedented rise in bad assets caused by lending on
fake papers , to fake identity and on fake businesses.
If SBI further stops the
act of due diligence, volume of bad loans, fraudulent loan and fake loans will
multiply and the most unfortunate part is that law and law enforcing agencies will
fail to act against the evil doers.
This is why I do not hesitate to say that whimsical
and arbitray decision of SBI restraining bank officers to visit the house of
loan seekers will prove suicidal.
If SBI is really interested or Indian government is really interested to stop corruption, they will have to bold enough to punish top officials whose activities are doubtful and whose acts are breaching the limit of integrity. We cannot dream of cleaning the system until persons like Khemka or Durga Nagpal are taken to task for none of their fault. In banks too, honest officers are discarded from the mainstream and corrupt officials reach top position in shortest period. This bad culture has to be stopped first before SBI dream of pruning the system.
First we have to change the mindset of politicians who are root of all evil practices in the country.
Following news items will open the eyes of SBI management . Top business men seldom visit the office of a bank and neither do they meet them at their residence.Several Politicians are billionaire in our country. Do they ever visit to their client in their houses all the time ( who give them handsome amount of bribe)?
Several Chief of the bnak (CMD and ED of bank ) , top officials of the bank and brnach Head or Zonal Head of the bank are having wealth disproportionate to their total income . Do they all visit to the house of loan seekers?
Not at all.
Rather all these corrupt persons and corrupt politicians of this country are more clever than those officials of bank who are suggesting video recording of conversation between loan seekers and bank officials and who are advising bank officials not to visit the house of loan seekers.It will not be exaggeration to say that corrupt officials of the bank who are well versed in the art of bribery are suggesting these unwise and child like ways to stop corruption.
Following news items will open the eyes of SBI management . Top business men seldom visit the office of a bank and neither do they meet them at their residence.Several Politicians are billionaire in our country. Do they ever visit to their client in their houses all the time ( who give them handsome amount of bribe)?
Several Chief of the bnak (CMD and ED of bank ) , top officials of the bank and brnach Head or Zonal Head of the bank are having wealth disproportionate to their total income . Do they all visit to the house of loan seekers?
Not at all.
Rather all these corrupt persons and corrupt politicians of this country are more clever than those officials of bank who are suggesting video recording of conversation between loan seekers and bank officials and who are advising bank officials not to visit the house of loan seekers.It will not be exaggeration to say that corrupt officials of the bank who are well versed in the art of bribery are suggesting these unwise and child like ways to stop corruption.
CBI gives SC a ‘Birla diary’ showing ‘payments’ to politicians, MPs-Financial Express News 06.12.2013
The CBI, probing the coal blocks allotment scandal, has handed over to the Supreme Court a “diary” it recovered from the offices of the Aditya Birla Group that lists an estimated 1,000 payments purportedly made to politicians and MPs of several parties by a Birla company trust over a 10-year period.
This diary was recovered during the agency’s October 16 raids on the offices of the group following its FIR alleging corruption in the allotment of Talabira block to Hindalco. This recovery was detailed by the CBI in its status report to the apex court.
The dates on which these payments have been made, sources said, are around the time of two Lok Sabha elections and several elections of state Assemblies. The CBI has handed over this diary to the Supreme Court and is awaiting directions.
Another diary, being described as a “notebook,” recovered by investigators of the Income Tax Department, shows receipts adding up to almost Rs 100 crore and top CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes) sources have confirmed to The Indian Express that the Birla group has agreed to pay taxes on these receipts.
Responding to a detailed query on these diaries by the investigating agencies, the Birla company spokesperson told The Indian Express: "Since there is an ongoing investigation into this matter, it would not be appropriate for us to comment.’’
Sources said that while the CBI searched the offices of the group in four cities, the Income Tax Department was called in to help in the recovery of Rs 25 crore in cash from the group’s corporate office in New Delhi.
Simultaneously, the Income Tax investigation wing confronted officials of the Aditya Birla group with another “notebook’’ listing receipts totalling almost Rs 100 crore. This “notebook” was recovered by IT investigators from the same address where they found the Rs 25-crore cash and, significantly, this amount is understood to be part of the listed receipts.
Following the recovery of cash, the company issued a statement saying it is “taken aback by the discovery of cash at one of its offices by the investigating agency. It has taken a very serious view of the matter...’’
Sources said the IT Department has already approached the CBI with a request for a copy of the “political’’ diary to establish whether the purported payments to politicians and MPs have been declared by the company or whether they have claimed tax exemption for the same.
Officials said the CBI has since asked IT authorities to approach the Supreme Court for the diary. A formal request from IT is expected to reach the Supreme Court by early next week.
Diary, Notebook
*One lists estimated 1,000 payments purportedly made to politicians and MPs of several parties by a Birla company trust over a 10-year period
*Another shows receipts adding to Rs 100 crore
*Birla group said to have agreed to pay taxes for these
*IT wants copy of ‘political’ diary
*Spokesman: “Since there is an ongoing investigation into this matter, it would not be appropriate for us to comment.’’
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