Govt overlooked former Central Bank CMD’s misdem

MUMBAI: When the CBI unearthed the bribe-for-loan housing finance scam last week, Central Bank of India CMD S Sridhar said that none of its employees were involved in the scam. He denied knowi
Updated on
2 min read

MUMBAI: When the CBI unearthed the bribe-for-loan housing finance scam last week, Central Bank of India CMD S Sridhar said that none of its employees were involved in the scam. He denied knowing much about a director on the board of Central Bank of India Maninder Singh Johar,  who was also arrested by the CBI along with 7 others, saying he was just an independent director and not involved in the bank’s activity.

Sridhar’s statement surprised experts who question, how a CMD of a board outrightly reject knowing much about a director of such a big PSU institution. Nevertheless, if one presumes that Sridhar really did not keep a tab on Johar’s activity, one would hope that he definitely knows the departments of his predecessor, the bank’s former CMD Ms Homai A Daruwalla.

While the CBI is diligently probing into the housing finance scam, whispers for action against Daruwalla who has been indicted, (though lightly) not only by the Finance Ministry but also by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) over irregularities in Central Bank, are slowly springing up.

The case against Daruwalla was first brought to light by one of its own senior officer, general manager Abhijit Ghosh. In 2008, Ghosh approached CVC with several charges against Daruwalla. These ranged from violating tender rules for printing stationary, favouring a travel agency belonging to Daruwalla’s sister for supplying vehicles for the bank, which were used by Daruwalla’s brother (who even met with an accident), gifting televisions to board members and mobilizing funds of over `80 lakhs for her alma matter.  Daruwalla, of course, denied all charges and for some reason the CVC closed Ghosh’s complaint in July 2008. This is when Daruwalla decided to hound him, and a charge sheet was immediately issued to him. In September, Ghosh filed a petition before the Delhi High Court which stayed the departmental proceedings against him. To defend itself in the Delhi High Court, the bank employed some top lawyers and a RTI filed by Ghosh revealed that the bank had spend close to a staggering `70 lakh on top lawyers.

It had paid `49 lakh to lawyer and Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi, `7.92 lakh to Ashok Bhasin and `9.64 lakh to Vinay Sharma. All the lawyers were engaged with the approval of Daruwalla.  Meanwhile, Ghosh was due for retirement in September 2010 and he decided to sign a settlement agreement with the bank by giving an undertaking that he would withdraw all cases and petitions against Daruwalla.  Though Ghosh’s first complaint was dismissed by CVC, the vigilance authority and Ministry of Finance reopened the files on Daruwalla and have indeed found her responsible for irregularities in Central Bank while she was the CMD.

Related Stories

No stories found.

X
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com