Special audit to quantify extent of co-op bank fraud, say officials

Solan, August 29

In a bid to regain the confidence of customers after a Rs 4.02-crore fraud came to the fore, a team of the HP State Cooperative Bank management met the aggrieved account holders at Nohradhar yesterday. Chairman Devinder Sham and managing director (MD) Shravan Manta, along with bank directors, responded to the queries of the affected customers. They reassured the customers that their money was safe and they were undertaking a special audit to quantify the extent of the fraud and establish the number of affected customers.

Devinder Sham stated that the affected customers would be immediately compensated. Steps like requesting the Director General of Police to expedite the probe and recommending an inquiry by the CBI have been taken, he added.

To recover the loss, properties of the assistant manager, who was accused of committing the fraud, would be attached and his 12 bank accounts were being frozen, said an official.

The bank officials tried to reassure the customers that they would be compensated as per the existing policy in a time-bound manner.

The bank management was unable to quantify the extent of the fraud though the customers opined that its scale would exceed the initial estimate of Rs 4.02 crore.

The officials urged the customers not to leave signed cheque books. The customers said they were unable to get cash and urged the officials to restore the amount lost in the fixed deposit receipts as they were finding it difficult to meet their financial liabilities like construction of houses.