Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the state Crime Branch (CB) Wednesday, claimed to have arrested two former bankers on charges of misappropriation of bank funds to a tune of Rs 1.96 crore between 2014 and 2016.
Subash Chandra Dash and Marianus Lakra, former branch manager and assistant manager of Syndicate Bank’s Burla Branch, have been taken into custody on charges of embezzlement of the bank’s funds and subsequently giving a financial blow to the public sector bank, according to EOW sources.
The duo, in connivance with a few others, had sanctioned and subsequently disbursed as many as 196 agriculture loans each of Rs 1 lakh to fictitious persons by way of Kisan Credit Cards. “They used forged documents to prepare ‘know your customer’ (KYC) documents and attached them with the loan applications. In some cases, loans have also been disbursed to dead persons. Eventually, the loans became non-performing asset (NPA), dealing a blow to the bank, read an EOW release.
The fraud came to fore after the bank’s regional manager Chandrakanta Dasmohapatra approached the EOW which registered a case (19/2019) under Sections 419/420,467, 468, 471, 409 and 120B of the IPC and initiated a probe.
In course of investigation, the investigating agency arrested the duo.