Canara Bank files fresh complaint against RP Infosystem and its director Shivaji Panja

KOLKATA: State-owned Canara Bank has filed a fresh complaint against Kolkata-based computer maker RP Infosystem and its directors with Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for their involvement into loan frauds where banks have cumulative exposure of over Rs 780 crore.The complaints alleged that the firm and its directors Shivaji Panja, Kaustuv Ray, Vinay Bafna along with other officials had committed a fraud by way of drawing loans from a consortium of banks against fabricated stock positions and other forged documents.Senior Canara Bank officials from its headquarters Bangalore confirmed the development. Canara Bank has Rs 40 crore exposure to the fraud.There may also be criminal connivance between the firm, its directors and some bank employees, the complaint said. A bank official in Kolkata filed the complaint with CBI. Canara Bank was part of the banking consortium where IDBI Bank was the lead bank. Other lenders in the group are Allahabad Bank, Central Bank of India, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Union Bank of India, State Bank of India and private-sector Federal Bank. Punjab National Bank, which is at the heart of the Rs 12,636 crore fraud involving diamond trader Nirav Modi, has Rs 70 crore exposure, banking sources said.IDBI Bank was the first to move CBI against RP Infosystem and its directors in 2015 for allegedly committing a loan fraud worth Rs 180 crore on the bank. Loan frauds are cases where the borrowers take loans through unauthorized dealings or by way of faking documents.“We have moved CBI once again as a matter of technicality following vigilance norms,” the Canara Bank official said.The other lenders excluding IDBI Bank have a total exposure to the tune of Rs 600 crore. SBI has about Rs 170 crore exposure to the fraud, PNB has Rs 70 crore while Allahabad Bank has about Rs 40 crore.The loans were taken in 2012 and had turned non-performing soon. CBI had booked Shivaji Panja, once a close associate of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, in June 2015 following IDBI Bank’s compliant.This is the third incident in the month where banks sought investigation against borrowers for loan frauds following PNB and Bank of Baroda, which filed a complaint against pen maker Rotomac Global’s promoter Vikram Kothari.According to Reserve Bank of India data, which Reuters obtained through through right-to-information window, state-owned banks reported 8,670 loan fraud cases amounting to Rs 61260 crore over the last five financial years up to March 31, 2017.

from The Economic Times http://ift.tt/2GPEPdL