NEW DELHI, NOV 28: Father of the Indian missile programme APJ Abdul Kalam became a victim of bank fraud and lost Rs 2 lakh in fixed deposits. The amount, however, was restored to him by the State Bank of India (SBI) alongwith overdue interest.Replying to a written question on bank fraud in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, the finance minister said that an assistance manager (systems) SN Bhardwaj, while working at Chirag Ali Lane branch of the SBI had siphoned off Rs 55.48 lakh in respect of cheques tendered by various parties for credit of Employees Provident Fund. Bhardwaj was attending to passing and releasing clearing cheques through gateway clearing system.The cheques relating to EPF challans were lodged in clearing by credit called System Suspense Account as they could not be credited to drafts account until drafts were issued on gateway clearing system. Bhardwaj used to amend the account in respect of EPF credit by inserting his current account number in place of system suspense account and siphon off the funds.The concerned official, prior to his posting at the Chirag Ali Lane branch, had also fraudulently encashed the proceeds of two STDRs belonging to Dr Kalam for forging later's signature.Although Dr Kalam got his money back, others who have been tricked by Mr Bhardwaj are still waiting. According to the minister, the SBI was seeking legal opinion for repaying amount due to EPF account holders. The modus operandi employed in the above cases, according to the written reply by finance minister, does not point to a cyber crime but frauds on account of an employee misusing the powers and responsibility vested in him by the bank. The SBI on its part has issued suitable instructions to all circles/branches for safeguarding against perpetration of similar frauds in future.Vittal for revealing loan defaultersNEW DELHI: Central Vigilance Commissioner N Vittal today asked government to amend the Banking Secrecy Act so as to make the information available to public about the defaulters responsible for increasing the non-performing assets (NPAs) of the banks.Addressing the India Economic Summit here, he said, ``already the sharing of information exists among the banks, but the Banking Secrecy Act deters the banks from making the information public,'' and added he had apprised the Finance Minister and banking secretary of the need for the amendment.The gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of commercial banks soared to Rs 60,841 crore as on March 31, 2000 as compared to Rs 58,722 crore in the previous fiscal, a whopping jump of Rs 2,119 crore.NPAs of ten leading financial institutions (including IDBI, ICICI and IFCI) have reported a rise of 11.89 per cent, or Rs 1,929 crore, to Rs 18,146 crore during the year ended March 2000 from Rs 16,217 crore last year.The RBI and banks have not disclosed the names of defaulters so far. The RBI had so far revealed the names of defaulters against whom banks have filed cases in courts. But this amounts to less than 15 per cent of defaults.
