Page 45 - Tehelka Issue 13 - July 15, 2018

banking

The economic offences wing of
Pune Police believes that the arrested
officials colluded with promoters of
the DSK Group for alleged fraudu-
lent transactions. Pune EoW sources
claimed that bank officials misused
their positions to sanction loans
worth 60 crore in two tranches.
They alleged DSK Group diverted
the said loans for personal use in-
cluding renovating promoter’s house.
All the accused have been booked
under various sections of the Indian
Penal Code and the Prevention of
Corruption Act amounting to cheat-
ing, forgery, criminal conspiracy,
criminal breach of trust, among
others.
Earlier the then CMD of Syndicate
Bank SK Jain was nabbed by the CBI
in a 50 lakh bribery case. The agency
last month charged many including
• Change of guard Sandeep Bakhshi is seen Sharma comes to an end on June 30. former IDBI Bank executives Kishor
as Chanda Kochhar’s heir apparent The appointment of Chaturvedi, who Kharat, now CEO of Indian Bank, and
has extensive administrative experi- Melwyn Rego, the CEO of Syndicate
ence, comes at a crucial juncture Bank, in connection with IDBI Bank’s
finally agreed to the proposal but not when the bank is battling one of its 600 crore loan to entrepreneur C
without heated verbal exchanges. No worst management crisis with the Sivasankaran’s firm.
doubt, Chanda Kochhar, a star on the MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar go- Other former and current IDBI
corporate firmament, enjoys a for- ing on a long leave to allow retired employees including GM Yadwadkar,
midable reputation as a banker but justice B Srikrishna to complete an the current DMD of the bank, and
the corporate governance practices investigation into whether there was BK Batra, its former DMD, were also
in the bank have come under scan- a conflict of interest in loans given by booked. In April this year, CBI booked
ner because of the way the issue has the lender to the Videocon Group. former CMD of UCO Bank Arun
cropped up. Banking sector experts believe Kaul in connection with an alleged
Interestingly, initially the ICICI Chaturvedi, a seasoned bureaucrat Rs 621-crore loan fraud in which he
Bank had maintained that Chanda who has been a director at various purportedly facilitated loans to Era
Kochhar was on annual leave. How- financial services companies, will Engineering which were not utilised
ever, faux pas came later when the help bring an element of stability by the company for the sanctioned
ICICI Bank issued a statement affirm- to the bank and win back investor purpose. In March, RK Dubey, former
ing that she will stay away from the confidence. CMD of Canara Bank, was booked by
office till the completion of an inquiry the CBI for allegedly allowing devia-
into the charges levelled against her Other banks in dock tions in sanctioning credit limits to a
by the whistle-blower. Till the inquiry In the meanwhile as if the ICICI Bank company during his tenure as execu-
is complete the bank will be steered imbroglio was not enough, Ravindra tive director at Central Bank of India.
by Bakhshi, the new COO. This is at Marathe of Bank of Maharashtra has In March, the investigative agency
best a face-saving cover for a board become the latest bank CEO to be ar- registered a disproportionate assets
that was reluctant to act since the rested. The Pune Police have booked case against former CMD of United
controversy broke out. him, his executive director and other Bank of India, Archana Bhargava, for
bank officials for allegedly collud- amassing assets worth over 3.6 crore
New chairperson ing with real estate developer DS allegedly disproportionate to her
The ICICI Bank board on June 29 Kulkarni to divert money and cheat known sources of income. The PNB
approved the appointment of Girish shareholders. Sushil Muhnot, the too made headlines for all the wrong
Chandra Chaturvedi as non-execu- bank’s former CMD, was also nabbed reasons in Nirav Modi scam.
tive part-time chairman of the bank. from Jaipur. All accused have been
The term of the current chairman MK sent to police custody. letters@tehelka.com

Tehelka / 15 july 2018 45 www.Tehelka.com

44-45 Column Hiteshi.indd 3 03/07/18 4:03 PM