Chennai: The anti corruption branch of the CBI-Chennai unit has booked 44 persons including seven public servants - bank officers (serving and retired) - on charges of cheating and criminal misconduct. The bank officials of erstwhile State Bank of Mysore (SBM) had conspired with a private builder and abused their official position to sanction housing loans to ineligible borrowers causing a loss of Rs 13.77 crore to the bank, according to the FIR.
The FIR was registered following a complaint by G Padmanabhan, regional manager of State Bank of India, Chennai zone-2 with the CBI on December 28. According to the complaint, during March 2015 to May 2016, the then Chief manager at SBM’s Shastri Nagar branch, Premalatha Vaikal and other officials serving in various managerial positions at SBM's Retail Assets and Small Medium Enterprises City Credit Centre (RASMECC) in Chennai had entered into a criminal conspiracy with S Alagesan, a private builder and sanctioned housing loans to ineligible persons on the basis of forged documents.
Alagesan had approached the public servants of erstwhile SBM branches in the city and arranged various namesake borrowers to act as purchasers of flats. “It is also alleged that the organisations where the borrowers claimed to be working were not actually employed there or they were not working in designations and grades claimed while applying the loan”, the complaint stated.
The bank officials had sanctioned and disbursed the housing loans well aware of the fact that several documents were fabricated.
Apart from Premalatha Vaikal, other SBM officials who were named in the FIR were, K Jagadesswara Rao, assistant general manager (retired), N Bupesh, Chief Manager (retired), V Saikumar, Chief manager, SBI (maintenance), M Srikumar, Deputy manager (sanction), VVSN Raju, Deputy manager
(maintenance) and Arumugam, Deputy manager (manager) - all employed in RASMECC during the period. CBI has begun investigations after booking 44 persons under various sections of IPC and prevention of corruption act.
