CBI to hire bankers to probe mounting financial frauds in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: Faced with the herculean task of investigating massive bank frauds to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials are all set to rope in retired bank officials and auditors to assist the agency in the probe.Now that the investigating agency has intensified the probe, more skeletons are likely to tumble out.

The CBI had registered multiple cases against more than 50 businessmen in the two Telugu states last month. In five different cases registered related to the IDBI bank frauds, former IDBI officials Battu Rama Rao and R Damodaran played a key role in sanctioning crores of rupees without proper verification.

“We will soon have retired bank officials from IDBI and a few auditors on board who will assist us in the probe. Once they join the probe, we will be able to connect the dots,’’ sources told Express. The team of retired bank officials and auditors will be sifting through hundreds of documents relating to the fraud. “They are part of the special team that has been set up for the probe. They will help us with corresponding and coordinating with banks.”

This is not the first time that the CBI is seeking help from bank officials and auditors. Be it the Satyam scam or any other bank scam, CBI has often had a team of bank officials, auditors, and even income tax officials assisting them. Sources said since the frauds took place across Hyderabad, Guntur, Prakasam, Rajahmundry, Bhimavaram and Tanuku of AP, large number of documents and other material, including computers, have been seized. While Hyderabad CBI officials registered two cases, the Visakhapatnam officials have registered three FIRs in connection with the fraud.

Post the `14,000 crore Punjab National Bank fraud case involving Mehul Choksi, owner of Gitanjali Group of Companies in Hyderabad Gems Park, the agency had received a number of complaints related to bank frauds committed by businessmen based in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

CBI nailing it
March 22: Totem Infrastructure ltd, and its directors Tottempudi Salalith and his wife Tottempudi Kavitha were booked for the Union Bank of India fraud
March 22: CBI registers cases on 10 persons including former officials of IDBI bank
March 22: The agency registers cases against 31 persons in AP and TS for bank fraud amounting to `445 crore
March 27: Officials register three different cases related to IDBI
Feb 28: CBI registers cases on Telangana Grameena Bank employee Jaipal Reddy for indulging in irregularities in the bank Aziznagar

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