Fugitive Sri Guru Raghavendra Cooperative Bank president still at large: Govt

The state government informed the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday that the police have not been successful in apprehending K Ramakrishna, the president of the fraud-hit Sri Guru Raghavendra Cooperative Bank.

"Ramakrishna and his wife are absconding. That’s why they haven’t been caught yet. A 10-member team has been formed and all efforts are being made to catch them," Law Minister JC Madhuswamy told the Assembly, responding to a calling attention notice by Basavanagudi legislator L A Ravi Subramanya.

"Between 2005 and 2020, Ramakrishna was president thrice and the irregularities committed under his tenures have come to the government’s notice," Madhuswamy said.

Earlier this year, allegations of financial fraud surfaced that Rs 1,400 crore had been moved to unverified accounts, which included deposits that were diverted. Also, loans were given to fake account holders.

The minister said there were 40,661 depositors of the crisis-hit bank. "The total deposits are Rs 2,620 crore of which we have to return Rs 2,310 crore to the depositors. A financial audit has been ordered for the 2014-2019 period," Madhuswamy said. "As per the Reserve Bank of India’s directive, a forensic audit is being done for ten years preceding March 3, 2020," he added.

Besides auditing the bank’s books, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) are carrying out a probe into the frauds, Madhuswamy said.

"After all this, whatever is recovered will be distributed to the depositors on a pro-rata basis," he said.