Rs 550 lakh scam: CBI charges 4 UCO Bank ex-officials

New Delhi: Even as the Narendra Modi-led Central government emphasises on cashless transactions, the CBI has unearthed a fraud of over Rs 550 lakh in a nationalised bank in Chattisgarh where Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs) got with forged documents were used for loans to “non-existent” farmers. Sources in the CBI said that the fraud took place between 2011 and 2015, during the tenures of at least four managers of the UCO Bank in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh.

“During this period, the accused public servants, in connivance with middlemen, issued loans of Rs 565 lakhs to those persons, using at least 281 KCCs on the basis of forged documents,” said sources.

The fraud came to light when the bank carried out its own internal inquiry. “It reported the matter to the Reserve Bank of India on September 22, 2016, and also forwarded the matter to the CBI,” said a source.

In 1998-99, KCCs were started as a joint initiative between the RBI and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), in order to assist agriculturists to have easily accessible cash and credit facilities.

The CBI has registered a case against S.K. Lakra and P.K. Bhuwal, both former senior managers of the UCO bank branch, R.K. Nagpure and Sanjay Kumar Singh, both former officers who were in charge of loans at the branch, and four private persons, namely Ram Singh, Amalal Dansena, Babulal Dansena and Rajesh Kumar Sahu.

Investigations have revealed that Lakra allegedly sanctioned and renewed KCC accounts during the period of his tenure as branch head from July 30, 2011, to November 27, 2013, sources said. “Again, the next senior manager P.K. Bhuwal allegedly sanctioned and renewed the KCC accounts during the period of his tenure as branch head from November 30, 2013, to October 27, 2015. Recommendations for sanction and pre-sanction visit reports were made by Nagpure during the period of his tenure from July 29, 2011, to October 16, 2012, and Sanjay Kumar Singh during his tenure from October 31, 2012, to October 9, 2015,” sources said.

“Middlemen allegedly prepared fake ‘khasra’ (land record documents) by retaining the name of the original owners but replacing the photographs. Despite knowing that the documents deposited with bank were forged, public servants allegedly sanctioned amount to them,” sources said. The fraud came to light when other senior officials of the bank were approached by certain original KCC account holders, sources said.