In blow to CBI, 5 Canara Bank ex-staff discharged in loan case

MUMBAI: In a blow to the CBI in the fraud case involving the promoter of Winsome Diamonds, Jatin Mehta, a special court has discharged five Canara Bank officers, all senior citizens, and observed that there is no material to prima facie conclude that they were part of any conspiracy. The CBI had alleged that the five committed breach of trust by recommending loan proposals to their superiors without carrying out independent assessment which eventually caused losses of Rs 146.3 crore to the bank.
Granting the officers relief, special judge AS Sayyad said, “…it is very much clear from the facts that final decisions were taken by the higher-ups who have unfortunately not been…implicated…and not …prosecuted by the CBI prosecution.” The court further said that the accused being bank employees processed the loan proposals but the final decision was taken by management committee members and the board of directors of Canara Bank.
“There is not even any prima-facie material which is brought to my notice from the entire charge sheet to show that the applicants (five accused) have done any overt act and for omission on their part to facilitate acts of other accused nor any material to come to prima facie conclusion that they were part of any conspiracy as alleged by the prosecution CBI,” the court said. The court also said that offences relating to corruption were also not made out against them.
The court pointed out that the bank had refused to give sanction for prosecution of four other bank officers who are still in service. The bank had concluded that there was no offence made out as alleged by the prosecution in the chargesheet.
Among those discharged from the case are SK Bansal (66), who worked as chief manager from 2011 to 2012, TK Bajaj (69) who was assistant manager, from 2009 to 2012, S Parthasarathy (66), who was assistant general manager, Bangalore from 2010 to 2013, S Krishna Kumar (65), who was deputy general manager, Bangalore from 2010 to 2012 and Mool Chand Gauba (70), who was general manager, PCC, Canara Bank, Bangalore from 2010 to 2012.
In their pleas, the five told the court that most of them had retired either prior to registration of the crime in 2016 or immediately after. Their defence lawyers told the court that during their entire tenure, they had discharged their official duty honestly. Calling the CBI’s case false, the defence also submitted that at the relevant time, their work was only to put up proposal notes before their superior and the final authority was that of the board of director. They said that they never had loan sanctioning authority.
The CBI strongly opposed their pleas and said that in pursuance of their criminal conspiracy, the accused being public servants had abused their official position by not following the bank’s circulars and guidelines. The CBI alleged that without independent assessment, they recommended a proposal note and thereby committed criminal breach of trust and criminal misconduct.