Bankers offered 25% raise to turn investigators

Guess who is ready to don the sleuth’s hat? Bankers will soon get an opportunity to join the ranks of inspectors in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The CBI, facing a shortage of investigative officers and a rise in financial offences, is planning to recruit for short tenures personnel from public sector banks working at the corresponding grade of CBI Inspector. Those hired will be a part of the CBI’s Bank Fraud Investigation Cell.

In all, 25 such posts have been created in the investigative body. The agency would offer a hike of 25 per cent on existing salaries, a senior CBI official told Business Standard. Since the task for the bankers-turned-inspectors would be different from their regular work, the CBI will provide them internal training at its academy.

Those applying must have five years of experience in the intelligence department of their banks. The officers would be on CBI payrolls for three years. The tenure can be extended up to five years.

Even now, the CBI has bankers on board to investigate economic offences but they are paid by the banks from where they are sourced. They work in the CBI on ‘secondment’.

The process of being seconded entails a temporary transfer of a person from normal duty to another assignment. Many officers from the Reserve Bank of India and public sector banks such as Canara Bank are currently working in the CBI on secondment.

Overall, the CBI is facing a shortage of 40 technical staff members, with an actual strength of 115 employees in that category. As of December 2011, 49 officials including 13 from banking and foreign trade, eight from engineering, eight from taxation and insurance and 20 computer professionals had joined the CBI on a contract basis for an initial period of three years.

The sanctioned strength for the inspector’s position itself is 886, but there are only 703 executive officers in the rank. The remaining 183 positions are vacant.