Sunday, August 3, 2014

Corruption In Syndicate Bank

Syndicate Bank CMD, 5 others held for graft-Statesman
NEW DELHI/BHOPAL, 2 AUG: The CBI today arrested six persons, including the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Syndicate Bank S K Jain (in file photo), for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 50 lakh for increasing the credit limit of some companies in violation of banking rules.

After keeping a watch on the activities of Jain for the past six months on the orders of CBI Director Ranjit Sinha, sleuths finally swooped in on his relative and a Madhya Pradesh-based chartered accountant and arrested them while they were allegedly receiving cash from representatives of firms which have been involved in the coal scam.


The CBI has filed two cases against Jain, accusing him of receiving a bribe of Rs 50 lakh through conduits and abusing his official position to enhance the credit limits of some companies in violation of laid down procedures, official sources said.


Mr Sinha, who has been at the forefront of fighting corruption at high places, has been personally monitoring the case and the searches that were being conducted by CBI sleuths since morning at 20 places in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Bhopal.


“We are determined to fight corruption at high levels and today's case was one such example,” Mr Sinha said. In this case, the CBI alleged that the conduit was the brother-in-law of the CMD and the deal was struck by the chartered accountant who has started his own firm of providing loans to big corporate houses. The CBI claimed to have recovered cash to the tune of Rs 21 lakh from Jain's residence,  besides gold worth Rs 1.68 crore and fixed deposits up to Rs 63 lakh. In the two FIRs, the CBI has named Neeraj Singal, Vice President and MD of Bhushan Steel, Ved Prakash Agarwal, CMD of Prakash Industries, Pawan Bansal, chartered accountant, Vineet and Puneet Godha (relatives of Mr Jain), Vijay Pahuja, Purushotam Totlani and Pankaj Bansal.  Sources alleged that Bhushan Steel used the services of Totlani and the money was handed over to Vineet.


CBI sleuths  arrested red-handed brothers and businessmen Vineet Godha and Puneet Godha and their business partner Vijay Pahuja from the Vardhman Complex in Bhopal yesterday evening for accepting a bribe of Rs 50 lakh on behalf of  Jain.  Jain was arrested in Bangalore today for allegedly taking a Rs 50 lakh bribe for irregular enhancement of credit limit of certain companies. There was no immediate word on the other two of the six arrested in the case.


Besides being a businessman, Vineet Godha is also known to be a Congress leader. 
The Bhopal CBI SP Mr Hari Singh Guruwaria said that the Godha brothers were arrested from the Vardhman Complex at Bhopal’s Malviya Nagar, which houses their construction company Vardhman . 


“A trap was laid on a tip-off and both the Godha brothers were arrested red-handed and the sum of Rs 50 lakh was also seized,” Mr Guruwaria said. He said the arrested persons would be taken to Delhi for further interrogation. 
The CBI today produced the three persons arrested in Bhopal before the special additional sessions judge B B Shukla to seecure transit remand for them to be taken to Delhi.


The court granted the CBI their transit remand till 4 August with the direction to produce them before a court in Delhi.

Link The Statesman

Syndicate Bank chief held on allegations of bribery-Business Standard

CBI says Jain enhanced credit limit to private companies, in violation of regulations; Vipul Agarwal of Prakash Industries, along with several other entities, has also been arrested
The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested S K Jain, chairman and managing director of Syndicate Bank, for allegedly accepting bribes from private companies to extend credit facilities.

On Saturday, the agency conducted raids at 20 locations across Bangalore, Bhopal, Mumbai and Delhi, after registering a case in the matter. It confiscated Rs 50 lakh, allegedly received by Jain as bribe. “So far, searches have led to recoveries of several asset papers and incriminating documents,” said a CBI spokesperson.

During the raids, the CBI also unearthed about Rs 21 lakh in cash, gold worth Rs 1.68 crore and fixed deposit receipts of Rs 63 lakh.

The CBI alleged Jain had enhanced the credit limit to certain private companies, in violation of rules and regulations. The companies concerned are believed to be embroiled in the coal block allocation scam, according to the investigative agency.

Jain’s brother-in-law, as well as a chartered accountant, have also been taken into police custody. Vipul Agarwal of Prakash Industries Delhi has also been arrested in the case. Sources said a few others, including Neeraj Singhal, vice-chairman of Bhushan Steel, were also likely to be arrested.

Efforts to contact Singhal and the Bhushan Steel chief financial officer proved futile till the time of going to press.
For the quarter ended June, Syndicate Bank reported a 7.3 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 485 crore, compared with Rs 452 crore in the corresponding period last year. The bank’s total income rose 16.8 per cent to Rs 5,523 crore from Rs 4,726 crore in the year-ago period. During the same period, provisioning fell from Rs 489 crore to Rs 468 crore. While the bank’s net interest income rose one per cent to Rs 1,351 crore, against Rs 1,338 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, net interest margin declined to 2.47 per cent from 2.83 per cent. Deposits rose 17.72 per cent to Rs 2,14,863 crore from Rs 1,82,513 crore in the first quarter of 2013-14.

Sudhir Kumar Jain, whom Syndicate Bank employees describe as “soft-spoken”, took charge as chairman and managing director of the bank on July 8, 2013. A commerce graduate and chartered accountant, he started his career as credit manager at Dena Bank in 1987, steadily rising through the ranks to become general manager, heading the bank’s accounts, treasury, retail banking, investor relations and international segments. He also served as executive director of Bank of Baroda for two years. Jain, who hails from Rajasthan, has 27 years of experience in various facets of banking and has worked across capacities and locations, including Kolkata, Ahmedabad and New Delhi.
http://www.business-standard.com/article/finance/syndicate-bank-chairman-arrested-for-bribery-by-cbi-114080201200_1.html

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