EOW to probe Odisha State Coop Bank fraud: Min

Rourkela/Bhubaneswar:

Cooperation Minister Surjya Narayan Patro today directed the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch to conduct a probe into alleged loan fraud amounting to over Rs 29 crore detected at the Rourkela Branch of the Odisha State Cooperative Bank (OSCB).

“Since these loans were disbursed without keeping proper security, we are facing difficulties in recovering them. This has come to fore after the audit. Since they have done this illegal work we have asked the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch to investigate,” Patro told reporters.

Further, the Cooperation Department has written to the Registrar Cooperative Societies to complete proceedings against the accused employees of the bank within two months and take necessary steps for attachment of their properties.

Notably, the loan fraud amounting to Rs 29, 57, 00,000 at the Rourkela branch of the OSCB was detected during a special audit of the period 2005-2015.

The audit has detected the fraud during the incumbency of three branch managers.

As per the special audit report, fraud to the tune of Rs 28, 89, 00,000 has been alone committed during the incumbency of branch manager Raghunath Sahu.

The audit has brought to fore large scale irregularities in disbursement of loans to 1,495 persons from the branch.

The loanees were allegedly sanctioned loans without proper collateral security and guarantors by the branch.