HYDERABAD: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials, a day after registering criminal cases against UCO Bank SD Road branch former chief manager Mastaram Jal, manager Mallesh and Rambabu and Pranath, directors of Kommineni Enterprises, initiated their investigation in connection to the bank fraud case.
During this investigation, it was revealed that Mastaram Jal and Mallesh were indulging in irregularities in clearing fake Letter of Credit Bills Discounting (LCBD), getting in return financial favours from Kommineni Enterprises. They misappropriated, at the cost of the bank, as much as Rs 9 crore. UCO bank officials have submitted an 18-page internal report to the investigation agency.
P Manoj, General Manager of UCO bank said, “Bills for Rs 9 crore drawn under Letter of Credit opened by Syndicate Bank was discounted by the SD Road branch of UCO bank on November 18, 2018. Though the proceeds of the bill were not received by the branch, officials fraudulently discounted four other bills and adjusted the overdue bills.
All these bills were drawn under suspicious Letter of Credit.” It is also reported that Kommineni Enterprises, in collusion with UCO bank officials, managed to siphon off funds to the tune of Rs 9 crore from the financial message system (SFMS).
UCO bank officials also asked for the CBI to undertake a thorough probe into the fraud. It was observed that the manipulated acceptance submitted by Kommineni Enterprises was accepted and part of the proceeds, worth Rs 81.88 lakh, was credited to Kommineni Enterprises’ bank account. Later, UCO bank officials verified the details of Bills under Letter of Credit by checking with the Banjara Hills branch of Syndicate Bank. The matter of discounting the amount was noticed by the bank officials, who found these transactions were fraudulent in nature.
Similarly, Kommineni Enterprises also received an amount of Rs 1.75 crore from Indusind Bank, Rs 74 lakh from SBI, Rs 3. 73 crore from Oriental Bank of Commerce and Rs 3.25 crore from Andhra Bank. Bank officials Mastaram and Mallesh were found to have failed to verify the original documents of the company.