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Kathmandu,Wednesday March 29, 2000 Chaitra 16, 2056.
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CIAA interrogates Nepal-SBI Bank
chief
By Gopal Tiwari
KATHMANDU, March 28 - Commission for Investigation
of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) interrogated M S Yadav, Managing Director of Nepal-SBI Bank
today on a 32-million draft scam that took place between 16 to 22 December, 1998, a source
close to the CIAA told The Kathmandu Post.
The bank’s profit has dwindled since the scam.
As per the statistics provided by a reliable source, the bank earned about Rs 120 million
in profits during the year 1997/98, which shrunk down to Rs 80 million in 1998/99.
CIAA interrogated MD Yadav today on how the money
was siphoned off from the bank anonymously. The bank had lost 32 million rupees through 10
fraudulent drafts at different dates.
In the process of interrogation, Yadav was asked
many questions. A few of them were focused the office order of the bank-00-018 dated
February 23, 1997. An officer has no authority to release payment exceeding more than Rs
200 thousand at a time. However, more than 3 officers were involved in the payment of such
a huge amount of money released on seven consecutive days.
Another important question asked to Yadav was why
he had replied irresponsibly to Nepal Rastra Bank to its written letter regarding the
working manual of the bank.
The bank presently does not have a ‘working
manual,’ which has hampered the day to day activities plunging its employees into
confusion regarding their responsibilities.
CIAA asked Yadav if he could explain the jobs of
branch manager and branch controller at the bank in today’s interrogation, says the
source.
The commission also asked Yadav why he had replaced
Prabhakar Rao, an Indian official, with Durga Bahadur Basnet, at Durbar Marg branch of the
Bank on December 16, 1998, the day the fraud began taking place.
CIAA has also interrogated Sandip Pandey, Neeta
Paudyal, Soma Raya Gupta, Shri Ram Gyanwali and Durga Bahadur Basnet, employees at the
bank, to date. MD Yadav is the sixth person to be interrogated today.
However, Yadav could not be reached for comment.
Yadav was appointed as the General Manager of the
bank by the Central Bank of India, Mumbai in January, 1997. After his appointment, the
bank’s performance has worsened resulting in decline of 10 percent dividend as
compared to the previous year’s 20 percent.
According to a report prepared by a Draft Forgery
Investigation Team (DFIT), a body formed by the bank itself, the bank lost the money
through 10 fraudulent drafts due to managerial laxity. The report asserted that the people
involved in the forgery of the bank draft were very familiar with the usual secret
intricacies of the bank.
The report further states that despite significant
dissimilarity of the fake draft cheques with even proof mistakes, the bank kept their eyes
blind-folded in the case of 10 drafts and released payments.
Meanwhile, shareholders have accused the bank
management of its laxity for the forgery that has caused a huge loss to the investors.
According to a statement given by the then Handling
Officer of the Durbar Marg branch, Sandip Pandey, the report states that the bank does not
have proper system for handling the draft payment.
The report mentions that the proprietor of the
current account holder in all three banks is Sanjay K Agrawal alone. Agrawal had opened
accounts in Everest Bank Limited in the name of Gangurde and Brothers, in Nepal Bank of
Ceylon (NBOC) in the name of Deoreker and Sons International, and in Nepal Bangladesh Bank
Limited in the name of Nagwekar Traders Import and Export.
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