Page 23 - Banking Finance September 2019

CO-OPERATIVE BANK NEWS

Odisha Central Coopera- Mumbai police sets up SIT to investigate Maharashtra
tive Banks urge for dead- State Co-op Bank fraud
line extension for PMFBY The Mumbai police has formed a special investigation team (SIT) of officers from
the economic offences wing (EOW) in order
Cooperation department has re-
to probe into the Maharashtra State Co-op-
quested the Odisha State Govern-
erative (MSC) Bank fraud.
ment to urge the Centre for extend-
ing the deadline to September 15 The case involves thousands of crore ob-
for uploading the details of farmers tained in loans by sugar cooperatives, spin-
in Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana ning mills and other processing units from
(PMFBY) portal. district and cooperative banks.
The Central Cooperative Banks Mumbai police has registered an FIR into the case. The then deputy chief min-
(CCBs) which have been financing ister, other ministers, directors and senior members of the bank, officials of dis-
about 70% of the total crop loan in
trict central co-operative banks across Maharashtra and sugar co-operatives that
the State have so far uploaded ap- got the loans are among the 76 accused in the FIR.
plication of over 13.78 lakh farmers
in the PMFBY portal under the crop However, the police have not named any of the accused. “Considering the vol-
insurance scheme. ume, the serious nature of the case and alleged involvement of political big-
wigs, a detailed investigation is required for which the SIT has been formed.
With about seven lakh more applica-
tions pending for data uploading and The SIT will have five handpicked officers [of the ACP, senior inspector and in-
the deadline being August 16, the spector rank] from banking and other units of the EOW. The functioning will be
monitored by DCP (special task force) and joint commissioner of police (EOW),”
Registrar of Cooperative Societies
said a senior EOW official.
(RCS) has expressed the cooperative
banks’ inability to complete the pro- Rajvardhan Sinha, joint commissioner of police (EOW), said, “As the offence is
cess within the due date. registered under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, an ACP rank of-
“The State Government may be re- ficer will be the investigation officer and will head the SIT. We will also take
quested to move the Centre seeking help from forensic auditors and other experts.”
an extension of the date till Septem- The FIR is based on a complaint by activist Surinder Mohan Arora, a 64-year-old
ber 15 for uploading the farmers’ Andheri resident, who had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the HC, alleg-
details seeking cover under crop in- ing police inaction into the fraud. While the complainant has claimed the worth
surance,” the RCS said.
of the scam is Rs 25,000 crore, the value is yet to be ascertained.
The State Government has targeted
to cover about 27.5 lakh loanee and Haryana State Co-op Apex Bank invites application for
non-loanee farmers during Kharif-
2019 under the crop insurance various posts
scheme. The last date for receiving Haryana State Cooperative Apex Bank Ltd,
application and deduction of pre- HARCO Bank invited applications from candi-
mium from farmers’ accounts was dates to apply for Clerk, Accountant & Asst.
July 31, 2019. Manager posts. Interested candidates can ap-
The CCBs have to remit the premium ply for the post through the official site of
amount to insurance companies con- HARCO Bank at harcobank.org.in. A total of 978
cerned by providing details of the posts will be filled up through this recruitment
farmers in the PMFBY portal within drive.
the stipulated date failing which the The recruitment will be in Haryana State Coop.
farmers will be deprived of insurance Apex Bank Ltd., Chandigarh and 18 District Cen-
claim. tral Coop. Banks in the state of Haryana.

BANKING FINANCE | SEPTEMBER | 2019 | 23