Syndicate Bank scam: Can CBI unravel the dealings of Pawan Bansal, Altius Finserv?

After the arrest of Syndicate Bank chairman SK Jain for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 50 lakh, the CBI is now turning its attention to the murky dealings of boutique investment bank Altius Finserv and its head Pawan Bansal, who has been arrested on charges of acting as a middleman in the bribery scandal.

According to a DNA report , CBI is probingall directors in Altius Finserv and the investment patterns of the company given the company has seen its turnover decrease over the years, but seen its reserves and surplus double over the same period.

However, for those who know the company and its origins, Bansal’s new found ignominy is a far cry from when hewas one of the top names in the fixed income segment.

A chartered accountant by qualification, Bansal reportedly started out at IFCI andafter working at Axis Bank in the fixed income segment, moved on toCiti and Barclays. He then moved to Money Matters, a non-banking finance corporation that helped banks raise money through debt issues.

However, when Money Matters came under the CBI scanner with the corporate loan scam at LIC Housing Finance, Bansal decided to part ways and form Upvan Securities Private Limited which later became Altius Finserv. The company’s website, which was pulled down after Bansal’s arrest, claimed to offer credit solutions and capital market services to corporate clients, equity broking for HNIs and retail individuals, and ‘inter-bank’ dealings to banks, financial institutions and insurers.

Bansal, incidentally, is the director of six companies including Altius Finserv, and according to a report , is known in Delhi’s financial circles as a ‘fixer’ ofloans for corporates.

In addition to Altius Finserv, Bansal is reportedly the MD of Altius Global Finance Private Limited and director of BT Divine Power and Mining Corporation Limited. He has been the director of Altius Properties Private Limited, additional director at Money Matters Financial Services Ltd and Money Matters Investment Advisors Private Limited.

But despite his obvious influence and offices in Mumbai, Nariman Point and Delhi’s Barakhamba Road, the chartered accountant is reportedly a softly spoken man who relies on his personal influence on bankers to get proposals passed and personal links with large family owned companies to get clients.

Like many other firms in the space, Altius has former officials from public finance institutions on its rolls in order to gain greater access to them.

According to a Financial Express report , many of the senior staff at Altius are from such backgrounds like chairman Hari Das Khunteta, who was formerly chairman at Rural Electrification Corporation, and its executive director Karan Bagga, who was with HUDCO.

A Mail Today report said that some of the loans sanctioned thanks to Bansal include a Rs 600 crore loan to Era Infra, a Rs 500 crore loan to the Tayal Group and Rs 1,300 crore to Arshiya International. He also managed to obtain loans from Bank of Maharashtra, UCO Bank and Canara Bank. In many of these cases the loans reportedly became non-performing assets for the bank, the report said.

As Firstbiz has pointed out there is little doubt there is an element of criminality in the bank loans of public lenders anda detailed probe into the functioning of Bansal and Altius Finserv may just give an idea ofhow deep the rot goes.