MUMBAI: The government on Monday suspended Syndicate Bank chairman and managing director S K Jain after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested him for allegedly accepting bribe, agencies cited financial services secretary G S Sandhu as saying.
The CBI filed two cases of alleged bribery against him and 11 others on Saturday under Prevention of Corruption Act and criminal conspiracy.
Earlier in the day, the bank’s shares fell `10.20 to `134.45 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) after the CBI action. The bank has taken steps to ensure smooth functioning following the chairman’s arrest, the Manipal-based lender told BSE.
The CBI said the chairman, in two cases, was allegedly negotiating to seek bribe for granting undue favours to private companies that had taken loans from the bank. In one case the CBI laid a trap and recovered the illegal gratification of `50 lakh after it was delivered. Jain (54) took charge as Syndicate Bank CMD in July, 2013 after earlier serving as ED of Bank of Baroda. He was one of the youngest CMDs of a public sector bank and was due to retire in 2020.
“We have suspended him (S K Jain) and two executive directors (EDs) have been given charge of the bank as an interim arrangement,” Sandhu told agencies.
M Anjaneya Prasad and T K Srivastava are the two EDs of the bank.
CBI is claimed to have recovered cash to the tune of `21 lakh from Jain’s residence besides gold worth `1.68 crore and fixed deposits of up to `63 lakh, reports agencies.
The sleuths made searches at 20 locations including Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Bhopal. The central bank may review the power of chairmen to personally approve loans, say some bankers.