New Dehi: More than 50 bank officers have been charged and arrested in the last four months for their involvement in bad loans. The cases are being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
More than half of the accused are of the rank of general manager and above. Among the accused officers, nine are serving or former CMDs. Top RBI officials are also under the scanner for their involvement. The investigation and arrests witnessed a spike after the Nirav Modi scam surfaced in February this year.
Until March this year, 10 bank officials were under investigation in five cases of bank fraud, the Indian Express reported.
At present, a total of 292 cases across 44 public and private sector banks involving allegations of “cheating” and “fraud” are under various stages of investigation by the CBI alone. On July 7, two senior retired officers of the Bank of India were arrested for their alleged involvement in a loan fraud of Rs 2,654 crore by Vadodara-based Diamond Power Infrastructure Ltd (DPIL).
The arrests have panicked the bank officials, who have now made the stringent procedures for lending. This could affect the credit growth recovery that was happening since late last year, bankers predict.
The Directorate of Enforcement too has conducted 234 searches in cases relating to “scams and embezzlement of funds” in banks during the 2017-18 and seized assets worth about Rs 7,109 crore.
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