Fired banker, who 'masterminded' KSAMB scam, arrested in Chennai

The KSAMB scam, in which public funds to the tune of Rs 48 crore were illegally transferred to 60 bank accounts, was “masterminded” by a dismissed bank employee, his son and son-in-law.

The CCB said it had arrested Vijay Akash, a 57-year-old bank employee who was fired from the job, his son Prem Raj, 32, and son-in-law Dinesh Babji, 30. All of them hail from Chennai and have been taken into police custody for questioning, said Sandeep Patil, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime).

The CCB said Akash had a history of siphoning off government funds to personal bank accounts for illegal benefits, including pocketing the interest. He was named in scams reported from Hyderabad, Tirupati and Coimbatore. Six cases have been registered against him, including three being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The Karnataka State Agricultural Marketing Board, a government-run body, had a revolving fund of Rs 100 crore to support farmers to pay the minimum support price even in the event of crop loss. In November 2019, it sought quotations from banks regarding their interest rates to keep the money as the fixed deposit. It eventually selected the Syndicate Bank branch at Uttarahalli in Bengaluru.

The money was transferred to Syndicate Bank through RTGS to open two fixed deposit (FD) accounts of Rs 50 crore each on November 18, 2019. When KSAMB managing director Kari Gowda met Jayaram, an assistant manager at the bank, on January 20, 2020, and sought details of the FD, he was told that the bank had received only Rs 52 crore.

When Gowda produced the FD certificate issued by the bank, he was informed that one of them was fake. From Chennai, the money was transferred to various bank accounts across the country and was withdrawn.

Gowda filed a complaint with Commercial Street police. Inquiries revealed the money was illegally transferred to various bank accounts with the connivance of the KSAMB and bank officials. The network was busted in February with the arrest of 15 people, including Akash’s daughter-in-law, bank officials, KSAMB officials and a few others.

The CCB said the arrested trio posed before bank officials as fake KSAMB officials and convinced them to transfer the funds. Akash had approached Siddalingaiah, a deputy general manager at the KSAMB, and Jayaram, the Syndicate Bank official, the CCB added.

(With inputs from PTI)