CBI Probes Role Of Bank Officials

Bogus accounts: CBI probes role of bank officials-Times of India 01.02.2015

PUNE: The CBI's anti-corruption bureau here is investigating the role of officials of a public sector bank in the city in a multi-crore scam that involves a Kolhapur businessman, who allegedly opened bogus accounts with cooperative banks in Pune and Kolhapur to siphon funds raised through term loans and cash credit facility extended by the bank.

On January 28, the court of special judge (CBI) D M Deshmukh rejected the bail plea of main accused Umesh D Shinde, who is the chairman of private limited firm Jogeshwari Breweries and head of an educational society that runs schools in Kolhapur. The CBI had arrested Shinde and his aide, Digambar D Bhingarde, on December 17, 2014. Both have since been lodged in the Yerawada central jail.

Investigations so far have revealed that Shinde raised funds through term loans and cash credit facility from the United Bank of India branch at Station Road in Pune. He deposited a sizeable chunk of this money in alleged bogus accounts at the Saraswat Cooperative Bank on Fergusson College Road, Mahalaxmi Cooperative Bank in Kolhapur and Gadhinglaj Urban Cooperative Bank. Later, the money was routed to the account held by his firm.

The CBI plea opposing the bail application stated that the role of bank officials was under investigation owing to the likelihood that some of them may have entered into a criminal conspiracy with the accused to cheat the bank by misusing their official position. "Such a possibility cannot be ruled out," Deshmukh observed in his order. "There is substance in the facts mentioned by the CBI," the order stated.

"The evidence on record prima facie indicates involvement of the accused. Public money is involved in the case and it is also a case of forgery of documents. Likewise, there is a possibility of the accused influencing the witnesses and creating hurdles in the investigations," the court observed.

CBI chief prosecutor Vivek Saxena told TOI on Friday, "The investigators are probing from all angles, including the role of the bank officials."

Lawyer Sudhir Shah, who appeared for the accused, said, "Shinde now has the option to either move an appeal in the high court or wait till the CBI files a chargesheet in relation to the case. We will examine the court's order before deciding on the further course of action."

Jan Dhan Yojana didn’t add to PSU banks’ profits: Union

Pune: A bank officers' union has pooh-poohed public sector banks' claim that they are not in a position to concede to employees' demand for a 23% hike in salaries.


"Public sector banks in the country have returned profit of Rs 37,000 crore last year and the employee organizations - working as United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) - are asking for a raise which will require only Rs 10,000 crore," said Harwinder Singh, general secretary of the All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC), which represents 85% of officers in public sector banks in the country.

Taking a dig at Centre's pet schemes, Singh said, "The banks' profitability would have been better if they were not made to implement schemes such as the Jan Dhan Yojana or were compelled to open more branches in rural areas. Such schemes bring considerable strain on human resources without generating any profit. Besides, bad loans of corporates add to banks' burden."

Singh said that profits suffer also due to the government's insistence on extracting as much dividend as possible to shore up its own finances.

Bank employees have been demanding wage revision and other facilities since the earlier wage settlement expired in November 2012. The UFBU has demanded a hike of 23%, but the Indian Banks Association has offered to pay 11% on the basis of 'salary slip earnings' which is a shift from the normal practice of revising wages on the basis of 'establishment cost'.



The next round of talks between the union and the Indian Banks Association is due on February 3

PM calls for expediting Aadhaar, bank account links with DBTL-Business Line
New Delhi, Jan 31:  

Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed the Ministry for Petroleum and Natural Gas to expedite Aadhaar enrolment and linkages with bank accounts for the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of LPG scheme.

 

Modi also asked for an impact analysis of the scheme to be conducted in a professional manner, an official statement said.

 

The Prime Minister reviewed the scheme on Saturday in a meeting with the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan.

The scheme has so far seen 9.75 subscribers which is 66 per cent of the total 15.24 crore LPG consumers in the country.

 

Till date, ₹ 3,654 crore has been transferred into the bank accounts of consumers via 9.25 crore transactions. Around 1.09 lakh complaints have been received which translates into 0.1 per cent of the transactions.