Officials in the Central Bureau of Investigation believe that the breakthrough achieved by the agency with the arrest of Syndicate Bank CMD S.K. Jain on graft charges may lead to unearthing of deep-rooted corruption in lending decisions by nationalised banks.
“We have arrested some middlemen who would broker the deals for grant of credit extensions to private companies. During the simultaneous raids at 20 locations (on Saturday), the probe teams seized computers from the premises of the accused persons. Data from those computers may provide further inputs into such practices in other banks,” said an official, adding that senior functionaries of some other banks are also under the scanner in separate inquiries.
The official said investigations are also being conducted into the operations of chartered accountant Pawan Bansal, one of the accused, who is in the business of facilitating loans to top corporate entities through liaison between parties. “We also conducted searches at his premises and have seized documents and computers, the contents of which would be analysed. The intelligence in this case was developed internally and it took us six months to execute the operation,” said the official.
The probe, under the direct supervision of CBI director Ranjit Sinha, is understood to be an extension of the inquiry launched a year ago into the suspected role of over 30 big business houses in securing huge loans from public sector banks and defaulting on repayments, thereby indulging in wilful misappropriation.
The CBI has so far arrested nine persons.
