Page 20 - Banking Finance June 2019

BJP slogan on bank EOW seals Navodaya Bank in Rs 38 crore co-op scam
After allegations were registered against former chairman of Navodaya Urban
cheques sparks row
Cooperative Bank and former Congress MLA Ashok
Major controversy has been sparked
Dhawad, Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of police
by BJP party
sealed the bank premises. 113 documents have
leaders as
been kept aside by the police officers to investigate
they printed
in the cooperative scam worth Rs38 crore.
the party's
Dhawad and 16 directors of the bank have been
slogan on
booked as the auditor of state department of cooperatives filed the complaint.
'Sau No Saath No Vikas', on the bot-
The office of state minister of cooperatives had earlier stayed this audit using
tom of the cheques which have been
its quasi judicial powers that nailed the former MLA and his team. After the BJP
issued to 10000 of account holders of
had come to power in Nagpur, the stay was granted in 2016.
the Surat District Cooperative Bank.
However, cooperative societies and banks have the freedom of appointing pri-
The account holders of the bank
vate firms or go for a departmental audit. The appointment of the private au-
along with cooperative leaders have
ditor is done through a resolution passed in the annual general meeting (AGM).
raised objections with the demand of
On the contrary, this bank, in a meeting of the board of directors, passed a
removing the slogan from the
resolution to appoint a Wardha-based chartered accountancy firm.
cheques immediately. They also have
put forward threats to boycott the The audit for financial year 2015-16 has been assigned by the firm and a de-
cheques for financial transaction in partmental auditor was appointed instead as the norms were not adhered. The
case their demand is not fulfilled. management of the bank approached the cooperatives minister while seeking
a stay on the decision that was granted. The firm was also responsible to con-
Member of Surat District coopera-
duct the bank's audit a year earlier.
tive bank and independent councilor
of Surat district panchayat, Darshan
Naik stated, "The oldest cooperative Pune People's Co-op Bank achieves Rs 1700 cr business
bank of Gujarat is not owned by any
mix
party or any individual. The bank
A Multi-State Cooperative Bank, Pune People's Cooperative Bank based in
belongs to all its account holders and
Maharashtra has achieved a business mix of Rs 1750
members. The BJP leaders holding
crore during the 2018-19 financial year and is expect-
key position in the bank are literally
ing to double its profit compared to 2017-18 financial
misusing the platform to gain politi-
year. In this regard, the chairman of the bank Subhash
cal mileage."
Mohite said, "Our deposit rose from Rs 1032 crore to
He further added, "A petition has
Rs 1102 crore whereas loans and advances increased
been filed with the Election Commis-
from Rs 584 crore to Rs 670 crore in the 2018-19 finan-
sion of India for the violation of the
cial year. However, the net NPA decreased from 2.89
model code of conduct by the BJP
percent to 2.27 percent and the gross NPA from over 9 percent to 7 percent."
leaders for influencing the account
He added, "Besides this, we are eyeing to achieve a business target of Rs 2,000
holders by printing its slogan on the
crore till 2020 and we are hoping that in the next few days the bank will be
cheques."
able to shift its headquarters to a prime location in Pune."
Meanwhile, Vice President of
Gujarat Khedut Samaj, Jayesh Delad "We had bought a land area of 20,000 sq feet at a cost of Rs 7 crore and the
(Patel), said, "The Surat district bank necessary construction is still going on. With the opening of the new office all
is not the entity of BJP. Today they the sections including Data Centre, Loan Section, and Meeting Hall will come
have written their slogan; tomorrow under one roof. It is 6 storey building", underlined Mohite who also chairs Pune
they will print pictures of PM Modi District Urban Cooperative Bank Association.
and BJP President Amit Shah on the In 2017-18 financial years, the bank earned a net profit of Rs 3.47 crore and is
cheque books." expecting to double its profit in the 2018-19 fiscal years.

20 | 2019 | JUNE | BANKING FINANCE