The CBI on Tuesday conducted searches at 10 locations spread in three cities after registering a case of alleged loan fraud estimated to be around Rs 1,000 crore in the Syndicate Bank.
The CBI on Tuesday conducted searches at 10 locations spread in three cities after registering a case of alleged loan fraud estimated to be around Rs 1,000 crore in the Syndicate Bank.
The agency booked five senior officials of the bank which included Satish Kumar Goyal, general manager (then posted at Jaipur), Sanjeev Kumar, DGM, regional office, Deshraj Meena, chief manager, MI road branch, Adarsh Manchanda, Malviya Nagar. In addition, an Udaipur-based chartered accountant Bharat Bamb, businessmen Piyush Jain and Vineet Jain from the same city and a Jaipur-based businessman Shankar Khandelwal have also been named in the FIR, the sources said.
Sources said, “Four businessmen allegedly managed to open 386 accounts in three branches of the Syndicate Bank in Rajasthan in connivance with five of its executives and defrauded it of Rs 1,000 crore using fake cheques, letter of credits and LIC policies.”
The executives and the businessmen have been named in an FIR registered by the CBI after which it carried out searches at 10 locations spread in three cities — Delhi NCR, Jaipur and Udaipur.
All these officials have been suspended by the Syndicate Bank and a complaint was filed with the CBI on the basis of which the agency registered the case. Sources said these businessmen in alleged connivance with the bank officials resorted to discounting of fake cheques and bills against fake Letters of credit and arranging over-draft limit against non-existent LIC policies.
“The scam that allegedly ran through 2011-16 continued unabated, escaping the audits and throwing to the wind all the formalities of KYC norms as 386 bank accounts of various nature were opened in three branches — Malviya Nagar and MI road in Jaipur and Udaipur — of the public sector bank,” sources said.
Sources also said it was not possible without the connivance of bank officials who turned a Nelson’s eye to the crime which continued for five years.
CBI spokesperson said the transactions of fake cheques ranged from Rs 40 lakh to Rs 5 crore with maximum number of cheques in the range of Rs 2.5 crore to four crore.
