Gujarat Panel To Probe Visnagar Scam

Following a string of co-operative bank scams in Gujarat, the state government, in a meeting held in Gandhinagar on Tuesday, has decided to form a five-member committee to probe into the Visnagar Nagarik Sahakari Bank Ltd crisis.

Indications are that similar probes may also be initiated in the cases of Diamond Jubilee Co-operative Bank Ltd and Suryapur Co-operative Bank, both based in Surat.

"The new committee will be headed by a retired district judge of the sessions court and he will be assisted by two senior advocates. To bring expertise in the committee, two senior chartered accountants have also been identified to be part of the team," said Vadibhai Patel, state minister of co-operation and protocol, on Tuesday.

This is the first time such a committee has been formed in the last two years, when seven banks have gone bankrupt.

"We have learnt a lesson from the earlier cases when we had registered criminal cases against some directors and top employees of indicted banks, but because of certain loopholes they had been roaming around scot-free. This new committee will provide proper legal advises to the government and the chartered accountants will help other members to have the details about the scams," said the minister after the meeting.

The committee will start working with the case of Visnagar Nagarik Sahakari Bank which will be extended in the cases of Diamond Jubilee Co-operative Bank, where a senior BJP leader, C R Patil, has been indicted for huge amount of loans sanctioned in favour of him.

In the case of Suryapur Co-operative Bank, where Kanaksinh Mangaroa, a Rajya Sabha MP of BJP, was the chairman, Vadibhai said, "Let us see."

Meanwhile, the state registrar of co-operative, Rajagopalan, said that to prevent banks going bankrupt, his department has decided to opt for 'investigative auditing' of some of the co-operative banks in the coming days.

"Considering the cases of co-operative banks plunging into liquidity crisis in the last few months, we are going to launch the idea of investigative auditing which will be more intense and detailed. This is to be implemented in the co-operative banks, especially in which there are clouds of suspicion," said Rajagopalan.

The department of co-operation also has decided to discuss the issues of weak and sick banks in Gujarat with the top officials of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday when a team from Gandhinagar led by Vadibhai will be reaching Mumbai.

"We will be able to gather more knowledge about the status of more co-operative banks in the state, once we come back from Mumbai after the meeting with RBI. Though there is really some serious concern over the matter, still depositors should not be panicked as the government will deal with the culprits in strict hand," said Vadibhai.