 "Syndicate Bank bribery scam: Here's the who, what and how of the case")
Syndicate Bank CMD SK Jain was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 50 lakh for the irregular enhancement of the credit limit of some companies. The incident is just the latest in a string of graft cases involving senior executives of public sector entities.
Here’s all you need to know about the case :
What exactly happened?
The CBI has filed a case against Jain and several others after discovering that the former was indulging in negotiations for illegal gratification directly and through middlemen for extending undue favours to private companies by granting sanction to various financial proposals.
The CBI said it recovered Rs 50 lakh ($81,700) that was allegedly being paid by a private company to Jain through middlemen.
The CBI said it searched 20 locations in four cities and found “incriminating documents” related to the case. It also found cash, jewellery and property documents from Jain’s house, the agency said.
The CBI has also registered cases against the CMD and directors of two Delhi-based private firms - Bhushan Steel and Prakash Industries - under relevant sections of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and criminal conspiracy.
Who is involved and what do we know about them?
- Syndicate Bank CMD SK Jain: charged with accepting bribes of Rs 50 lakh.
- Middlemen Vineet and Puneet Godha: Charged with accepting the bribe on behalf of Jain. The Godha brothers are Jain’s brothers-in-law and have a checkered past. According to the _ Indian Express_the brothers, based in Bhopal, were questioned by the police in connection with the murder of a local journalist. Puneet Godha is a leading real-estate developer in Bhopal while Vineet is a former Congress spokesperson.
- Bhushan Steel &Prakash Industries: Neeraj Singhal, vice president and MD, Bhushan Steel, andVed Prakash Agarwal, CMD, Prakash Industries havealso been arrested. Coincidentally, both these companies are also being probed by the CBI in connection with the multi-crore coal block allocation scam.
-Vijay Pahuja, Purushotam Totlani and Pankaj Bansal: They are other middlemen involved in the deal, according to the Times of India. The Hindu reportsthat Bansal is a chartered accountant in Madhya Pradesh who arranges loans for corporations. The CBI states Bansal is Jain’s chartered accountant and relative.
How were they caught?
_The Economic Times_spoke to CBI director Ranjit Sinhawho shared the details of how Jain and his cohorts were caught.
According to the article, the CBI had been tapping Jain’s phone for the past six months (after a Supreme Court order that removed an earlier statutory provision that required authorities to get government clearance before tapping phones of public servants above the rank of joint secretary), when Sinha finally heard Jain demand an outright bribe on Saturday.
The authorities stated that Jain has been accepting bribes earlier as well.
Has this happened before?
Unfortunately it has. Here are some of the other past instances where top executives from government-owned entities had run-ins with the law.
- In November 2013, the CBI registered a case against SBI’s deputy MD Shyamal Acharya who was also the head of mid-corporate wing of the bank, former assistant general manager K K Kumarah and a businessman Piyush Goyal for alleged graft in disbursing loans of above Rs 100 crore.
-In November 2010,the CBI arrested the CEO of LIC Housing Finance, Ramachandran Nair, LIC Secretary (Investment) Naresh K Chopra and six other senior bankers in connection with a housing-finance racket.
-Former Corporation Bank CMD Ramnath Pradeep was accused of multiple charges, in November 2010, including overlooking regulations while sanctioning loans, changing rules for appointments and extending loans to ineligible borrowers.
with inputs from agencies
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