Five-Year Jail Term for Bank Officials in Rs 1.76-crore Loan Fraud
Loans sanctioned using fake documents caused losses of over Rs 2.3 crore to SBI
Visakhapatnam: The first additional judge of the special court for Central Bureau of Investigation cases in Visakhapatnam, P Vijaya Durga, on Tuesday convicted several bank officials and borrowers in a bank fraud case involving the State Bank of India, Anaparthi branch.
Medapati Kanaka Durga Prasad Reddy (A2), managing partner of Sri Lakshmi Prasanna Foods, Medapati Venkata Jhansi Lakshmi (A6), his wife, and Chirla Sri Lakshmi Devi (A7), partner of the firm at Anaparthi in East Godavari district, were convicted for fraudulently obtaining a cash credit loan. The court sentenced them to two years’ simple imprisonment each and imposed a total fine of Rs 45,000.
According to the prosecution, during 2010–11, the accused obtained a cash credit loan of Rs 60 lakh in the name of Sri Lakshmi Prasanna Foods by submitting false and fabricated documents, causing a wrongful loss of Rs 60.64 lakh to the SBI Anaparthi branch.
In a related case, the court also convicted Chaganti Chalapathi Rao (A1), then branch manager, and Poduri Subba Rao (A7), then assistant manager of the SBI Anaparthi branch, along with borrowers Sathi Satyanarayana Reddy (A2), Tetali Srinivasa Reddy (A3), Nallamilli Venkata Narayana Reddy (A4) and conspirator Mallidi Venkata Narayana Reddy (A6) of Anaparthi village.
The bank officials were sentenced to five years’ simple imprisonment, while the borrowers and conspirator were awarded two years’ simple imprisonment, along with a total fine of Rs 1.10 lakh. After the pronouncement of judgment, the convicted bank officials were sent to the Central Prison, Visakhapatnam.
The prosecution said that during 2010–11, the branch manager and assistant manager entered into a criminal conspiracy with borrowers and middlemen to fraudulently process and sanction three Kisan Credit Card (ACC) loans for running fish ponds at Likithapudi village in Narasapuram mandal of West Godavari district. This resulted in a further wrongful loss of Rs 176.61 lakh to the SBI Anaparthi branch.