Karnataka - Hassan   

‘Order CBI inquiry into cooperative bank scam’

Hassan: The Janata Dal (Secular) leader and the former MLA A.T. Ramaswamy has alleged that the officials of the Department of Cooperation have fabricated records and swindled more than Rs. 1,000 crore that was released under loan waiver scheme by the State and Central Governments. He was speaking to presspersons in Hassan on Friday.

Mr. Ramaswamy alleged that several District Central Cooperative Banks, Apex Banks, Land Development Banks and Urban Cooperative Banks are involved in this scam due to which the State Government should handover the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The officials of those banks that come under the Department of Cooperation fabricated records with respect to loan waiver, natural calamity relief fund, supportive prices given to farmers and purchase of seeds and agriculture implements. Managers in cooperative banks, supervisors and joint directors working in the loan section of the Department of Cooperation are involved in this. In fact, under the loan waiver scheme, records with respect to crop loans were fabricated and in this alone about Rs. 1,000 crore has been swindled, he alleged.

Under various schemes, the Central and the State Governments have released about Rs. 6,000 crore to cooperative banks and some portion of it to the commercial banks. Mr. Ramaswamy alleged that there have been irregularities in the disbursement of such a huge sum of money. He also alleged that banks have not submitted documents for audit every year during March.

Mr. Ramaswamy said that, as per the rule, a farmer who avails loan waiver during a particular year cannot avail the same kind of waiver during the subsequent year. But, this rule has not been followed at all. In fact, according to him, the auditors who have audited the banks’ accounts had found irregularities and had suggested to the Government that action must be initiated against the guilty. This issue was discussed in the Cabinet meeting and Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa said that action would be taken against the guilty but nothing has been done till date, he said.

Cooperative Banks are run by people with vested interests. That is why in many banks new account holders have not been entertained. The same persons have been the directors and the share holders of several banks for about a decade. This has only made it convenient for officials to swindle money. A united opposition to such a development is the need of the hour if public money has to be safeguarded, Mr. Ramaswamy said.

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