Page 22 - Banking Finance September 2020

CO-OPERATIVE BANK NEWS

Framework would include appointing a said that in March this year, the KCCB 374.75 crore in four months since its for-
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) had lodged a complaint with their office mal inception in November 2019, coop-
and setting up various committees such for investigation into a series of irregu- eration minister Kadakampally
as IT Strategy Committee, IT Steering larities in Gagret, Panjawar and Kutheda Surendran said recently revealing the
Committee, etc. Jaswalan panchayats of Una district with first balance sheet of the bank. Braving
regard to the polyhouse financing several odds, Kerala Bank has come into
Directors of Ghaziabad scheme. being in last November by amalgamat-

Bank charged for Rs. 100 He said that in March 2015, mastermind ing 13 district cooperative banks and the
of the scam Kuldip Chand, who was work- state cooperative bank.
Crore Scam ing in the loan department of the bank, The Malappuram district cooperative
24 directors of Ghaziabad's now defunct sanctioned a bogus loan in the name of bank stood against the merger and con-
Mahamedha Cooperative Bank have Balwinder Singh of Kutheda Jaswalan tinues to function as a separate entity.
been charged for allegedly misappropri- panchayat for a polyhouse unit, the sub- During 2019-20 fiscal, the bank did busi-
ating around Rs. 100 crore, according to sidy amount on which was Rs 15 lakh. ness worth Rs 1,01,194 crore. During the
an FIR lodged in Ghaziabad. This was done without the knowledge of merger, the cumulative loss of the banks
The case was lodged following an audit the beneficiary and hence the polyhouse was Rs 1,150.75 crore. In four months,
by a company engaged by the Coopera- was never constructed. However, the the cumulative loss could be brought
tive Department. The company in its first subsidy installment of Rs 11.26 lakh down to Rs 776 crore, the minister said.
report named the errant directors and released by the government was cred- The Covid related financial stress has dis-
officials. ited to the bank account of Madan Lal
of Amb. rupted the loan repayment flow, leading
In a complaint to police, Cooperative to a spurt in NPAs. The bank has a re-
Later, another subsidy installment of Rs
Department Assistant Commissioner and serve capital of Rs 1543.44 crore,
Registrar Devendra Singh alleged the 3.74 lakh was diverted to the bank ac- Kadakampally said. The bank has seen a
bank officials sanctioned loans to ineli- count of Dinesh Kumar of Kutheda spurt of Rs 1525.8 crore in investments
gible customers. He said Rs. 99.85 crore Jaswalan village. Both Madan Lal and and an increase of Rs 2,026.40 crore in
was embezzled. Dinesh Kumar had nothing to do with the loans. Kadakampally said the bank would
polyhouse scheme, but had connived
Devender Singh said properties of seven with Kuldip. The subsidy amounts from soon introduce a new loan scheme worth
people who took hefty loans from the both bank accounts were later with- Rs 1,000 crore which is aimed at provid-
bank have been attached. Properties of drawn and allegedly shared by the three ing 17,000 new employment opportuni-
other borrowers will also be attached, he accused - mastermind Kuldip Chand, ties.
said. Madan Lal and Dinesh Kumar. With the backing of NABARD, 10 mobile-
The case will be investigated by the co- Meanwhile, victim Balwinder started banking vans would soon hit the roads
operative cell of the UP police, SP (City) receiving notices from the bank when and 1,500 micro ATMs would be in-
Abhishek Verma told. the loan amount swelled to Rs 23 lakh, stalled. In order to simplify the recovery
said Sagar Chand. Another bogus loan of proceedings, the bank would soon launch
3 held for fraud with Kangra Rs 5 lakh for starting a shuttering busi- a onetime settlement scheme. NABARD
ness that he never took also stood sponsored food processing industry loan
cooperative bank
against the name of Balwinder in the and agro industry loans would soon be
The Una Vigilance and Anti-Corruption KCCB branch. launched, the minister said. During the
Bureau today arrested three persons, The ASP said that a case under the IPC current fiscal, farmer loans worth Rs
including an employee of Kangra Central and the HP Prevention of Specific Corrupt 1,543.44 crore was distributed through
Cooperative Bank (KCCB), for their al- primacy cooperative societies. A total of
leged involvement in the misappropria- Practices Act had been registered Rs 3,676.49 crore was given out as gold
against the trio.
tion of funds in the name of the loan, Rs 425.86 crore as mortgage loan
polyhouse scheme under which farmers and Rs 195.83 crore as housing loan. In
are given a subsidy of 80 per cent of the Kerala Bank earns Rs 374 addition to this, cooperatives were given
cost of the unit. crore in 4 months loan worth Rs 2,887.35 crore during the
Sagar Chand, ASP, Una vigilance bureau, Kerala Bank has earned a revenue of Rs current financial year.

22 | 2020 | SEPTEMBER | BANKING FINANCE