Following his appointment as Administrative Officer of the Shimoga District Central Cooperative (SDCC) Bank on Monday, Deputy Commissioner Vipul Bansal has convened a meeting of the managers of all the 28 branches of the bank and presidents of the Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) and discussed with them on the measures to be taken to ensure normal functioning of the bank.
It may be mentioned here that owing to a scam related to advancing of gold loans by the bank coming to the fore recently, the State government had kept the managing board of the bank in abeyance for a period of three months and appointed the Deputy Commissioner as its Administrative Officer. The District Crime Intelligence Bureau(DCIB) police probing the case had arrested 18 people, including president of the bank R.M. Manjunatha Gowda and its general manager Nagabhushan, for their alleged involvement in the irregularities. The State government had later handed over the probe to CID.
At the meeting, Mr. Bansal asked the managers and PACS presidents to regain the confidence of customers. Following the scam, many customers had withdrawn the money they had deposited with the bank before maturity in a hurry. The sudden withdrawal of deposits had affected the normal functioning of the bank. Priority should be accorded to regaining the confidence of customers, he said.
InvestigationAlong with Amir Ahmed Circle branch of the bank, where irregularities had allegedly taken place, the financial transactions at the other 27 branches would also be investigated. He called upon the managers of all the branches to keep him informed about routine financial transactions.
Managing Director of SDCC Bank Santosh Kumar and Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies Sunitha Siddaram were present.
