Thursday, February 12, 2015

Loss By Frauds AND Loan Defaults

I am submitting below my article dated 26 .12. 2014 to refresh the memory of readers as well as that of regulators of banks

 

Regulators like RBI and SEBI and owners like Government of India were sleeping for decades. They never bothered for what was going on in pubic sector banks. Officials of RBI , Team of Chartered Accountants, Team of vigilance officers and teams of bank's internal auditors mostly used to be victim of bribery and gifting culture extended to these high profile persons when they used to visit their banks for audit , inquiry and inspection.

Post of ED and CMD used to be auctioned in lacs of rupees and these EDs and CMDs then used to promote such culture in their banks. Large scale corruption in loaning , large volume of frauds and lacs of public complains against banks could not pull out these dignitaries from hibernation . All officers who have been assigned the task of protecting banks normally used to sleep and enjoy. It will not be an exaggeration If one say so.

Draupdi Chirharan used to take place and protecting agencies used to sleep or preach sermons. Banks continued to be looted by bank officials, business men and politicians in nexus with all these regulating agencies who are supposed to be watchdog for banks and who are supposed to be protectors of bank.
  


 I salute Chairman of United Bank who boldly resigned from the post of CMD of United Bank when she found foul game being played in all higher offices and that in her own bank . It is she who scarified the lucrative post of CMD and ignited fire in banking arena. It is she who could speak about volume of NPA in UBI and awakened the officials of RBI and CBI and ministers from their deep slumber and opened the eyes of media pesonnels.

Still there is no doubt to me that all so called big banks are having volume of bad debts concealed and they continue to get blessings from their mentors. It was for the first time that RBI, to get rid of public revolt and media questions ordered forensic audit of United Bank. It is different and Unfortunate that under pressure of senior officials, ministers and politicians , they somehow or the other , again put carpet on findings of forensic audit and just made mockery of word "Forensic Audit" .
??Since then RBI has ordered forensic audit against Allahabad Bank, Syndicate Bank, Dena Bank, Oriental Bank and now against U Co Bank. Very soon they will order forensic audit of Central Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank and gradually to all public sector banks. But ultimately perhaps nothing will happen to real culprits.

 

Because if all culprits are exposed, then they will unite together and call for forensic audit of RBI, Government of India, CVC , CVOs, CAs who used to give good health certificates to all these banks every year despite existence of volume of serious irregularities and deep rooted corruption in almost all banks and in almost all branches.

Not only this they will stop credit growth and puncture dream of GOI of achieving GDP growth of 8 to 10 percent in India. In the past also clever bankers pleaded to keep banks above CVC and CBI and outside the jurisdiction of CVC and CBI. Clever bank officials never accept the ground reality but put entire blame on Global recession and blame the system to hide their evil tasks and they plead so cleverly that no one doubts .
??

India is great in culture of certificates and culture of banners and hoardings. Whenever there is any complain from media or public or from customer or shareholders , regulators will ,as a rhetoric and to follow a well established culture issue a letter to the concerned bank and ask for certificate that there is no merit in public complain.

When cobra Post exposed fraud in KYC compliance, all these so called protectors flocked together to put carpet on findings of Cobrapost. One can find numerous hoarding in bank speaking about corruption less banking and saying as if "Honesty is really the best policy" for bankers.

They as a ritual take oath in every November on Vigilance Day and publicise it in newspapers to earn false name and fame in public domain.??In the same way , whenever people of India writes against corrupt officials of any bank, a team of corrupt top officials will join together to provide shield to brother trapped and leave no stone unturned to free him from charges of corruption.

They will manage all certificates and destroy all files, papers and documents which may harm them in future to prove that charges of corruption against alleged officers are not founded, biased ,false and baseless.

This is why none of top officials have ever been punished during last two decades though starting from Harshad Mehta scam several stories of bank scam have come to light It is the culture not only in banks but in all departments of Government that a most corrupt officer or the most inefficient and unskilled officer is entrusted task of investigation whenever pressure comes from above to inquire into charges of corruption levelled against senior officer of the bank. ??

Now CBI have boldly come out against corruption in banks ( not against politicians )after getting powers from Supreme Court. It is CBI which has unearthed the story of bribery in Syndicate Bank and then taken action against other banks too. Before that GOI never gave permission to CBI to proceed against any corrupt officer as if banks are free of corruption.

The obvious reason is that entire government run by Congress Party and UPA was made of corrupt politicians. And hence action was never taken against any corrupt official or any politician despite so much hue and cry made by Team Anna , Ramdeo Baba and other social wings against Coal scam, CWG scam, 2G scam or several other such serious nature scam. Even in coal scam and 2G scam , the then ruling party never accepted that there was any illegality. They thought it better to order hundreds of inquiry against people associated with Team Anna or Team Ramdeo.

Now Supreme court has proved and accepted that there was no legality in allotment of coal mines. Similarly CBI and Supreme court in coming days will prove that there is hardly any loan ,specially in high value loans which are without game of bribery.Not only role of bribe and gift is behind all corrupt dealings, but role of woman and wine have also played big games.



I had several times written in blog that great Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will prove to be disaster for the country and corruption will never end as long as Congress Party will remain in power. I hope now under NDA government led by Mr. Narendra Modi , level of corruption will come down to a great extent . I am fully confident that Mr. Modi , PM and Mr. Jaitley FM will not provide shield to any corrupt top official and politician and allow CBI to perform without any hurdle and without any fear of action from GOI. I however suggest GOI to put CBI also under surveillance of ROW or IB or CVC or some other powerful agencies.

It is not enough for RBI to order Forensic audit, it is the duty of RBI and GOI to ensure time bound action against all erring officials and all erring politicians who promoted bad culture in banks even if persons like Mr. Chidambram or Mr. Mukejee are found on wrong track and required to be punished for giving illegal orders on phones to various ED and CMDs of banks and other PSUs. Once actions starts pouring on top guns, there is no doubt that corruption in lower level will gradually come down.

Last but not the least , To save banks from disaster ,GOI and RBI will have to stop loan waiver culture . They will have to stop culture of bribery and flattery in recruitment and promotion to strike at the root of all malady. GOI will have to completely separate loan and Charity from each other. Charity game from bank which is basically a lender has damaged the culture of lending and to a great extent responsible for rise in corruption and rise in bad debts in PS banks. Act of loan and act of charity can go together.


I like to reiterate here that case of S K Jain CMD syndicate bank trapped by CBI in bribery is only tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds of senior officials who are still away from CBI net . There are several officials who have reached top position only by using wealth, wine and woman. It is proper to point out here that Mr. Jain was trapped by CBI for accepting bribe for sanctioning a loan of Rs.100 crore to Bhusan Steel, a company which got success in getting sanction of loan amounting to Rs.40000 crore by not one or two banks but by 35 banks. Further is not isolated cases of Bhusan Steel only whose Rs.40000 crore is likely to be bad , but there are several such cases which either already turned NPA or are almost on the verge of it.

It is not isolated case of S K Jain whose marks were inflated by Interview panel and who got full marks in Annual appraisal Reports b his appraiser and by reviewing authority despite several cases of irregularities and corruption associated with Mr. Jain as because name of Mr Jain was recommended by some Minister for the post of CMD. In public sector banks . all promotions right from scale I to III or from II to III or from III to IV and so on takes place on the basis of recommendation on officer possesses and on the basis of power of lobby he or she is associated.

There are many trade union leaders in many banks who act as middlemen between Interview panel members and promotion aspirants. Culture of changing marks in Annual Interview marks and giving full marks in Interview is nothing new in banks. This is normal phenomenon in all promotion processes taking place in banks. 'Ye mera admi hai' , 'ye netaji ka admi hai', 'ye GM or DGM sir ka najdiki hai' etc are common terminology which are tagged with flatterer officials and people predict success of such officers in promotion process much before result is out. For higher post, officers use the services of ministers, IT bigwigs,RBI big bosses etc.

Bank management always talk of merit oriented policy but in fact they never give respect to merit. There are hundreds of thousands of officers who have been sidelined like Ashok Khemka by Harayana government. There are many officers who have left taking part in promotion process and decided to lead a peaceful life in remote centres and spend time at corner tables kept for such officers who do not follow the current of corruption. Many officers decide to resign when torture and injustice cross the limit. Frequent transfers of such officers is not new phenomenon in banks as Mr. Ashok Khemka was subjected to by state government in Haryana to keep High command Sonia Happy.

I therefore always say that power of promotion and transfer is the root of bribery and flattery.



CBI registers two PEs in Syndicate Bank case-Indian Express


The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has started two new enquiries into role of middleman Pawan Bansal, an accused in the Syndicate Bank bribery case in alleged easing of loan conditions and credit facilities for corporates from UCO Bank and Bank of Maharashtra.

CBI sources said the enquiries will look into alleged irregularities in the extension of credit facilities by UCO Bank and Bank of Maharashtra in the borrowers account facilitated by Pawan Bansal of Altius Finserve, an accused in the Syndicate Bank bribery scandal, and his associates.

The agency had arrested Bansal in a bribery case related to Syndicate Bank CMD SK Jain who was arrested for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 50 lakh for increasing credit limit in violation of banking rules.

During Bansal’s interrogation he revealed his role in facilitating similar arrangements for other corporates.

Bank credit: CBI to probe irregularity charges -Hindu Business Line

New Delhi, August 28:  

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered two preliminary enquiries (PE) into the alleged irregularities in providing credit facilities to corporates by two public sector banks, UCO Bank and Bank of Maharashtra.

 

“These PEs will look into alleged irregularities in the extension of credit facilities by UCO Bank and Bank of Maharashtra in the borrowers’ account facilitated by Pawan Bansal of Altius Finserve, an accused in the Syndicate Bank bribery scandal, and his associates,” a CBI official said.

 

Earlier this month, Bansal was arrested along with then Chairman and Managing Director of Syndicate Bank SK Jain in a bribery case.

 

A PE is registered when a complaint is received or information is available which may, after verification, indicate serious misconduct on the part of a public servant but is not adequate to justify registration of a regular case (RC) under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

 

A PE may be converted into an RC as soon as sufficient material becomes available to show that prima facie there has been commission of a cognizable offence. When the verification of a complaint and source information reveals commission of a prima facie cognisable offence, a regular case is to be registered as is enjoined by law

 

During the interrogation of Bansal, CBI had got to know about his role in facilitating similar arrangements for corporates with other banks, agency officials said. The CBI has alleged that in order to expedite results, one of the accused companies Prakash Industries had earlier agreed to pay huge sums of money to Bansal for utilising his services and it was agreed he would take care of further payments to Jain.

 

EOW files nine FIRs in fixed deposit fraud case at public sector banks

 

 

 The scam has grown bigger and a number of public sector banks have been defrauded, says additional commissioner of police (EOW) -LIVEMINT


BY Khushboo Narayan And  Vishwanath Nair 


The economic offences wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police on Thursday said it has filed nine first information reports (FIRs) against several individuals, including some middlemen, for allegedly perpetrating a fixed-deposit fraud involving a number of public sectors banks.


"The total amount that has been siphoned off in this fraud is over Rs.700 crore. We are in the process of registering 10 more FIRs," said Rajvardhan Sinha additional commissioner of police (EOW).


A deputy commissioner of police (DCP) at EOW said the agency along with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is coordinating on a probe involving multiple cases of fraud related to bank fixed deposits in the city perpetrated by the same individuals. He declined to be named.


"We met with the officials of CBI for coordination today," said the DCP of EOW. He declined to be named.


These individuals and middlemen in collusion with bank officials carried out fixed deposit scams at public sector banks including Dena Bank, UCO Bank, Bank of India, Vijaya Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Central Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur and Dhanalakshmi Bank, according to the agency.


"Dhanalaxmi Bank has been defrauded of Rs.141.8 crore while Dena Bank of Rs.45.23 crore," said the DCP of EOW.


According to EOW officials, the perpetrators of the crime approached entities like South Indian Education Society, Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority, PG Group of Companies and Sant Rohidas Charmakar Mahamandal among others to open fixed deposits with public sector banks through middlemen.


In return, these entities were promised a higher rate of interest on the FDs. Once a fixed deposit was opened through the RTGS facility, the perpetrators gave a fake FD receipt to the entities and retained the original receipts with themselves, said Sinha explaining the modus operandi of the fraud. "These individuals/ middlemen then opened an account in the name of these entities with forged signatures for transferring the overdraft amount. This fixed deposit money was later siphoned off," said Sinha.


So far, EOW has arrested four people involved in the fraud and is in the process of arresting six others. The EOW has also arrested the alleged mastermind of the scam Mohammed Fashiuddin, promoter of the Showman Group.


"We are also investigating the role of the bank officials involved in the fraud," said Sinha.


According to a senior official at Central Bank of India, the bank is yet to receive any communication from the EOW. Similarly, an official at UCO Bank stated that no intimation had been received by the bank from the law enforcement agency.


"The EOW has not gotten in touch with the bank’s head office regarding any investigation yet, but it did verify some branch-level transactions," said a senior official at Dhanlaxmi Bank.


Calls made to officials of other banks went unanswered.


CBI has also registered cases regarding fixed deposit frauds at some branches of Dena Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce adding up to nearly Rs.400 crore. On 20 August, financial services secretary G.S. Sandhu had stated that the finance ministry is conducting forensic audits at Dena Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce after details of the irregularities came to light.


On the same day, Oriental Bank of Commerce said in a filing to the stock exchanges that it detected irregularities in transactions worth Rs.180 crore involving the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), which had filed a complaint with the CBI in February.


The bank has reported the matter to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the department of financial services of the finance ministry, and initiated departmental action against the erring officials, the bank said in its statement.


Dena Bank also issued a statement on 20 August on a similar fraud. The bank’s Malabar Hill branch in Mumbai received term deposits from various entities and government organizations between 30 January and 5 May. The term deposits amounting to Rs.256.69 crore were pledged to the bank by the same signatories to obtain overdraft facilities of Rs.223.25 crore.


"The funds were surreptitiously transferred out of the bank by creating fake overdraft facility, resulting in a fraud on the bank and the concerned entities/govt organizations," Dena Bank said in a separate filing to the stock exchanges. The bank "has suspended the erring branch manager and transferred the staff of the concerned branch", it said. The amount being investigated by the CBI is outside the EOW’s estimation of Rs.45.23 crore.


On Thursday, the PSU Bank Index on NSE fell 1.79% while the benchmark NSE Nifty was up 0.23%. Shares in Dena Bank fell 2.99%, Vijaya Bank fell 0.77%, UCO Bank fell 1.5%, Oriental Bank of Commerce fell 2.58%, Syndicate Bank fell 2.53%.


The investigation by the EOW and CBI comes on the heels of an alleged bribery scandal, earlier this month, involving Syndicate Bank and some companies.



 

 

http://www.livemint.com/Industry/t3Lpb6X1mv7kcbacpnHMPN/FD-scam-FIRs-filed-against-several-staterun-banks-individ.html

 

 

Public Sector Banks lost Rs 2,417 crore due to fraud in first quarter-Economic Times

NEW DELHI: State-run banks saw a marked rise in incidents of fraud in the first
three months of this fiscal, a list compiled by the government shows, adding to
concerns over the management of these lenders.

The data shows that  fraudsters cheated these banks of Rs 2,417 crore of public money between April  and June. The amount is more than half of the loss of Rs 4,183 crore in entire
2013-14 through 1,174 cases of fraud.
The Central Bank of IndiaBSE -2.23 % alone reported 59 cases of fraud involving Rs
1,047 crore in the three months to June, according to the data made available by
the finance ministry.

In the previous fiscal, too, the Central Bank of  India had the dubious distinction of topping the list with 117 cases of fraud  involving Rs 818 crore.

As per the Reserve Bank of India guidelines, all  advances related to fraud cases of Rs 1 lakh and above are maintained under  'cheating ..



Bank frauds rising: Double to Rs 6,212 cr in 2012-13-Business Line
Public sector banks main victims of poor appraisal systems
Bank loan frauds almost doubled in 2012-13 adding up to Rs 6,212 crore against Rs 3,183 crore in the previous year. Public sector banks accounted for a chunk of these frauds. In terms of numbers, 349 cases of fraud of over Rs 1 crore were reported in 2012-13 up 28 per cent over the previous year’s 273 cases.
A fraud is an act or omission intended to cause wrongful gain to one person (in this case, the borrower) and wrongful loss to the other (the bank), either by way of concealment of facts or otherwise.
In a recent presentation, RBI Deputy Governor K. C. Chakrabarty said poor credit appraisal and low level of promoter equity have led to a jump in the number of loan related frauds, especially diversion of funds. Loan related frauds accounted for 64 per cent of the money misappropriated followed by technology related and know-your-customer (mainly in deposit accounts) frauds.
There has been a 15-fold rise in large value fraud cases involving amounts of Rs 50 crore and above, from three cases in 2009-10 (involving an amount of Rs 404 crore) to 45 cases in 2012-13 (Rs 5,335 crore).
Chakrabarty observed that loan appraisal standards are lax for bigger loans both at the time of sanction and restructuring even as the assessing standards are stringent for smaller borrowers.
Loan appraisal must focus on the quantum of equity brought in by the promoters, the source of the equity, and the contingency planning in respect of infrastructure projects. According to Chakrabarty, “Increase in cases of large value fraud in accounts financed under consortium or multiple banking arrangements, involving even more than 10 banks at times, is a newly emerging, but unwelcome trend in the banking sector. Another glaring issue in this context is the considerable delay in declaration of frauds by various banks in cases of consortium/ multiple financing.”.
He pointed out that the RBI has come across cases where there is a lag of 12-15 months in declaration of the same case as fraud by different banks. This not only enables the borrower to defraud the banking system more, but also gives him time to erase the money trail and queer the pitch for the investigating agencies.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/banking/bank-frauds-rising-double-to-rs-6212-cr-in-201213/article5380386.ece

Saturday, September 21, 2013


Bad Loan And Fraud Are Two Killers For Banks

Bad loans: Banks sleeping at the wheel

M. SITARAMA MURTY--Business Line


Competition has pushed banks into cutting corners, while checking the borrowers’ antecedents.
Non-performing assets (NPAs) have always been a part of the credit function in banks. It is only after the regulator introduced the concept of income recognition and provisioning in the 80s, tightening the definition of NPAs and provisioning norms, that they have assumed greater importance. Adoption of the Basel guidelines on capital adequacy made it a critical segment. For the third quarter of this year, most banks reported a decline in profits, citing the burgeoning NPAs. The fears of the rating agencies, which are sceptical about the assets quality and health of the banks, have been confirmed.
Gross NPAs showed signs of easing for a couple of years, but are moving menacingly towards the 4 per cent mark. The problem is so widespread that a CEO of a major PSB could defend the low profits as a fall-out of decline in asset quality, and not change in incumbency. Normal growth in credit could have, to some extent, improved the earnings and salvaged the ratios, but the economic slowdown and higher inflation and interest rates have dampened investments.

INCREASING FRAUDS

If a critical analysis is made, some worrying aspects do surface. Increasing number of frauds has contributed in no small measure to the problem. The acts of criminal minds in financial transactions, internal or external, including cyber crime, are labelled ‘fraud’ and are reported to the RBI. These do not, however, fully reflect the magnitude of the problem. A clear trend of defrauding the banks is emerging. The amounts lost in transaction frauds or theft pale into insignificance if the amounts involved in NPAs due to misrepresentation, falsification of accounts, diversion of funds, cheating, forgery and wilful default are considered.
Believing it to be safe lending, all banks pushed for housing loans in a big way. While percentages may provide a false comfort, the sheer number of cases where banks were cheated, some times several banks by the same person, with fake or forged documents runs into thousands. If the notices of sale or auction appearing in the press daily are any indication, many loans seem to have been granted without meticulous verification of the KYC norms, the earnings or the repayment capacity of the borrowers.
A common modus operandi of the fraudsters is to sell off the property or mortgage it to other banks, using multiple copies of the documents. In the era of colour printers it is difficult to make out the genuineness, except by a thorough verification at the registration office. This is time-consuming and beset with practical difficulties, too. With the records not updated in some States even for 5 to 7 years and there being no system of issuing encumbrance certificates in some others, it reads like a horror story. The advocates have to wade through voluminous haphazardly stored papers to verify.

WILFUL DEFAULT

The number of camouflaged fraudulent borrowings in the trade, manufacturing and services sectors is on the upswing. What is more alarming is that an increasing number of large value or corporate borrowers are resorting to false information and fake or forged documents for obtaining credit.
The failure of the banks to make a critical and realistic appraisal of credit needs and have efficient credit management practices at all levels, makes it that much easier for a dishonest borrower. Banks have to help themselves by not rushing through the sanctions, in the name of competition. It is a paradox that applicants still complain about delays.
Prudence or due diligence need not result in delays. But negligence of basics of banking can lead to frauds. Outsourcing most functions such as project appraisal, verification of documents, inspection of securities and their valuation, scrutiny of accounts and books, verification of stocks, internal audit and even recovery, have the bankers lost their professional touch? Is it because of volumes or reluctance to face accountability?
Realising that the entire exercise of recovery is ending in knots, the government and the RBI thought it fit to have a national register of bank mortgages as a self-help measure. But it will take time to stabilise, as in many States, the revenue and municipal records need to be streamlined and updated. Promotion of Credit Information Bureau (CIBIL) for building the credit history of borrowers is another initiative by the RBI.

SLOW RECOVERY

The recovery process is slow and painful, despite creation of DRTs and introducing the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act (SARFAESI). Several borrowers become wilful defaulters, only to take advantage of the one-time settlement (OTS) system and gain. Having enjoyed the funds, interest apart, they bargain for discount in the principal. Anxious to reduce NPAs and at their wits end, finding no better alternative, banks fall for the OTS bait, sacrificing substantial amounts.
The DRTs and the SARFAESI act procedures involve interventions of police and revenue machinery and finally courts, leading to delays up to several years. The work load has also multiplied manifold over the years. Stays are sought and granted routinely, rendering the process ineffective. DRTs frequently stay proceedings under the SARFAESI Act which is not envisaged.
The Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction, which was to be wound up, is going strong and promptly stays recovery proceedings, unable to dispose of the cases for years on. Borrowers know this too well and after several years, throw the bait of OTS at the frustrated bankers.
If some banks successfully reach the stage of disposal of properties, influential defaulters ensure that no one participates in the auctions. For fear of litigation about the price and procedure, banks shy away from private sale. They settle for sale of debts to asset recovery and management companies at deep discount, as a last resort.

ILLUSIVE SECURITIES

Only banks with security of immovable property can hope to recover some dues. Traditionally, stocks of goods or commodities, machinery and book debts were considered good liquid securities.
But not any more. Once an account is irregular or becomes an NPA the stocks do a vanishing trick or the banks find them of no value. Mostly machineries and fixtures are either not available or of only scrap value, by the time the bankers could lay their hands on them, overcoming the various hurdles.
Book debts are like mirages; either mere statements submitted by the borrowers or the certificates given by the chartered accountants. Bankers seem to have forgotten the skill of verifying and monitoring the book debts. No details of transactions or contact particulars or any supporting documents are available with the banks.
Banks cannot deny credit for want of securities, particularly if there are not any. The RBI and governments prodding the banks to achieve targets for sectors such as exports, even those who have enough means, avoid offering any securities. Thanks to Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC), some relief is at hand. Ultimately, it boils down to banks substantially upgrading their appraisal skills and monitoring methods of scrutiny, verification, checks and cross checks. Self-help is the best help.
They need to look more inwards.

The author is former MD, State Bank of Mysore.

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