CBI books two bank officials for home loan fraud

They allegedly colluded with builders to extend loans on forged documents

January 29, 2021 02:57 am | Updated 02:57 am IST - NEW DELHI

The Central Bureau of Investigation has booked two senior officials of Syndicate Bank for allegedly colluding with builders to extend home loans on forged documents.

The flat buyers, whose documents were used, did not know how much loan had been sanctioned or released by the bank. They had just signed the papers.

The accused have been identified as the then chief manager, Sant Ram Barwal, and senior manager Praveen Kumar, who were then posted in a Ghaziabad branch of the bank. The agency has also named the president of Vocational Education Foundation, Ramesh Lal Gupta, directors of Gyatri Hospitality and Realcon Private Limited, besides others.

The fraud pertains to 45 housing loans given to 37 borrowers to purchase flats that were to be constructed under the “White House” and “Gayatri” projects during 2015-16. The builder, Vocational Education Foundation, was given approval in September 2012 for a period of five years.

As it turned out, a verification revealed that loan applications were not completed in 23 cases, while the recommendation for loan and the KYC/credit verification exercise were not done in any case. The copies of tripartite agreement with the Society was not recorded by the bank. In some cases, no Income Tax Return records were provided. The total amount involved was close to ₹10 crore.

During the inquiry, some borrowers claimed that their profiles were used by the builder to get loans, on the promise of 6% commission. The complainant bank said a majority of the borrowers might disown the liability as they had not invested their margin nor were paying any monthly interest.

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