ST devpt corporation files complaint against Union Bank bank officials over scam

The General Manager (GM) of the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribe Development Corporation has filed a complaint against top officials of Union Bank of India. 

The complaint comes days after Chandrashekaran P, superintendent at the corporation, died by suicide, leaving behind a death note. The incident exposed the embezzlement of government funds at the state-run corporation. 

Rajashekar, GM of the corporation, claimed in his complaint that the officials failed to follow banking norms and caused loss to the government by inducing unauthorised transfer and disbursement of funds. 

The case has been transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). 

Rajashekar has named Union Bank of India’s top officials, A Manimekhalai, MD, and CEO; Executive Directors, Nitesh Ranjan, Ramasubramanium, Sanjay Rudra, and Pankaj Dwivedi; and Chief Manager of MG Road branch, Suchishitha Raul, in his complaint. 

The High Grounds police have filed an FIR under IPC sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servants, bankers, etc), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (fraudulently or dishonestly using as genuine any document which he knows or has reason to believe to be a forged document), and 149 (unlawful assembly with a common object). 

Rajashekar said the corporation’s account was moved from Vasanth Nagar branch to MG Road branch on February 19. After this, through five transactions, a total amount of Rs. 187.33 crore was deposited into the account. 

The transactions were made through various banks and the state huzur treasury khajane-2. He said that after this, they didn’t communicate with MG Road branch as the election code of conduct was enforced. Even the bank didn’t send any bank documents. 

“Our officials visited the branch on May 21, to collect the documents, but were denied by the branch officer, who later visited our office on May 22, claiming the documents were already issued, which was found to be untrue,” Rajashekar said in his complaint. 

Upon verification of the passbook later, the corporation learned that an amount of Rs 94.7 crore was disbursed from the account based on forged documents. 

“On further perusal, it revealed numerous forged letters, forged cheques, and forged RTGS requests with fake signatures of the officers and accounts officer, as well as a forged/fake board resolution leading to unauthorized disbursements of funds from the organisation’s bank account,” the complaint said. 

Rajashekar told police that none of these transactions was informed to the corporation, no emails were sent and the official phone number of the MD was also not recorded by the bankers. 

He said that upon being made aware of these acts, Chandrashekar P, who was accounts superintendent in the corporation and was involved in auditing and coordination, died by suicide, naming the MD, accounts officer, and chief manager in the suicide note.

“Chandrashekar was involved in sending out bank confirmation letters to various banks where our organization has held accounts to assert the bank had failed to send out the letter(s) to Union Bank of India, MG Road Branch, Bengaluru, every month to ascertain the monthly balance,” he said. 

On May 23, the entire episode was informed to the chief manager of the MG Road branch. The chief manager immediately transferred Rs 5 crore to the corporation. 

The bank has failed in its duties, and the top management of the bank should be held liable for the several lapses that transpired in their banking system, according to Rajashekar.