New India Coop Bank: EOW registers fresh case against ex-officials over wrongful loss of Rs 24.93 cr

Mumbai: The Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing, which is probing the Rs 122-crore New India Co-Operative Bank scam, on Wednesday registered a fresh case over a wrongful loss of Rs 24.93 crore to the bank, an official said.

The EOW has named the bank’s former chairman Hiren Bhanu and his wife Gauri Bhanu, another ex-chairman, Satish Chander, former managing director (MD) Damayanti Salunkhe and former chief executive officer (CEO) Abhimanyu Bhoan.

According to the agency, the bank sanctioned loans worth Rs 77 crore to a company allegedly without due diligence and later declared the loan accounts as non-performing assets (NPAs).

The alleged malpractice concerning the NPAs came to light during the EOW’s probe into the alleged Rs 122-crore scam at the bank, the official said.

Hiren Bhanu, Bhoan and one more bank official allegedly received kickbacks of Rs 6.37 crore from the loans sanctioned to the company under the guise of business transactions, he said.

Subsequently, after the company’s loan accounts were declared NPAs, the accused settled the accounts by waiving a total of Rs 18.56 crore in principal and interest. This caused a total wrongful loss of Rs 24.93 crore to the bank, the official said.

Earlier, the EOW had said that Rs 122 crore was siphoned off from the safes of the bank’s Prabhadevi and Goregaon offices in Mumbai. The agency has filed a chargesheet in connection with this embezzlement.