Page 231 - A Banker Down the Rabbit Hole

absence of a store Manager. My 'vigilant' mind got alerted about this loan
account.

I returned and prepared a snap Inspection Report on behalf of the leader
bank of the consortium. I mentioned in the report that the lay out and
the assembly line of the Nokia assisted plant for OFC was impressive. On
the day of visit, the same was not in production operation. We could not
verify the stocks and their value due to records not made available to us
with a promise to produce them in a couple of days at the branch. We
would complete our detailed report after that happens.

After three days, the General Manager (Finance) came to us with some
detailed sheets and tried to explain. It was very complex explanation and
I with my concerned Manager could not reconcile the stock values. We
met the Chief and produced the inspection report and the complex
incomprehensible stock reconciliation submitted by the company. We
impressed upon the Chief that we were not experts and technical hands
suitable for valuation of these special stocks. Looking to the unusual
conduct of the company officials during and after inspection, the bank
should engage an expert to conduct re-inspection within a month because
the three banks had lent huge amounts based on declared stocks for
which no proper records have been produced on site of the factory and
the unit was also not in operation on the day of the visit. We completed
the report on the above lines with our suggestion on re-inspection as a
next step and sent it to Zonal office, Head office and other two banks.

Our Zonal office quickly followed up with us and asked us to appoint an
experienced Chartered Accountant to conduct thorough stock audit and if
necessary, he may engage some technical expert. The GM (Finance) of the
company engaged with the Stock Auditor for a month. But no report was
generated and produced by him. We called the Auditor and GM (Finance)
for a joint meeting. The stock auditor reported that the company was not
producing documents and records as required for the audit. The GM
(Finance) assured again that everything will be provided. The stock auditor
gave a qualified report after another month and this created an
apprehension in our minds that all was not well with the company.

228 | A Banker down the Rabbit Hole