Arani Cooperative bank chairman, manager and officials arrested in jewellery loan fraud

TIRUVANNAMALAI: Four bank staff were arrested at Arani in the district for allegedly committing jewellery loan fraud to the tune of Rs 2.51 crore in the Arani Cooperative Bank on Friday. Sources said the suspects -- Chairman of the Bank Ashok Kumar, Manager Lingappan, Jewellery Assessor Mohan, and Cashier Jagadeesan allegedly got loans in the name of their relatives by pledging gold-plated jewellery.

The fraud came to light after the DMK government announced the gold loan waiver in cooperative banks. Based on the complaint regarding irregularities, Vellore Region Cooperative Societies' registrar Chanakyan conducted investigations along with supervisor Jeyaprakash and others and verified the authenticity of the gold jewellery pledged, the name and background details of the customers.

Sources claimed though the irregularities and potential fraud charges were made during the AIADMK regime, no action was taken as the chairman of the bank was AIADMK town secretary and is alleged to be a part of the scam.

"During the investigations in the last October, it was revealed total loans provided in the bank were Rs 29.12 crore. Out of that 77 account owners pledged fake and low-quality gold jewellery and committed fraud worth Rs 2.39 crore. Five accounts pledged jewellery worth Rs 21 lakhs and got Rs 12 lakh more loan amount than the permissible limit," officials said.