Noose tightens around UCB scamsters

State government's actions long overdue: co-operative banks' depositors association

The Gujarat government has initiated action against several people allegedly responsible for the collapse of over two dozen urban co-operative banks (UCBs) in the state over the last two years.

More than two dozen co-operative banks have collapsed in Gujarat in the last couple of years. Prominent political personalities, including several heavyweights of the ruling BJP, were found to be responsible for many of the collapses.

After literally acting indifferently against these people, the Gujarat government has finally started zeroing on the guilty BJP men.

On Thursday, Kanksinh Mangrolla, the former Rajya Sabha MP and prominent leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat, was arrested by the Crime Branch in Surat.

Mangrolla, the founder chairman of Suryapur Bank, along with other directors, had allegedly granted loans of Rs 84 lakh between 1999 and 2000 to one Milind Patel of Ahmedabad, in violation of several banking norms.

The loan was not repaid and, as so today, the amount has swelled to over R.1.30 crore, including the accrued interest. A complaint was lodged in the case by the bank's CEO, leading to arrest of Mangrola and seven others.

Mangrola, is already an accused in the Rs 44-crore Suryapur Co-operative Bank scam case, which led to the bank's collapse in August 2002. He secured bail and was in hiding for long.

Earlier, Deepak 'Sathi' Patel, a former BJP MP from Anand, who was arrested in connection to the Charotar Nagrik Sahakari Bank scam.

The scam came to light in January 2002, when Deepak Patel's father Chiman Patel, the bank's chairman, was found to be involved in a Rs 20-crore fake letter of credit scam with Baroda People's Co-operative Bank.

Deepak Patel, the managing director of Charotar Nagrik Sahakari Bank, had also availed of a Rs 5 crore loan from the bank. The loan was secured using forged documents. The Patels were unable to repay these loans, which led to a crisis in the bank. The bank was liquidated by the Reserve Bank of India.

Prakash Gujjar, the president of All Gujarat Co-operative Banks' Depositors Association, welcomed the steps taken by the government. "The scamsters should have been taken to task a long time back. The action has certainly been delayed, but it is better late than never," he said.

"The government should now ensure that the defaulters and scamsters are not let-off and strict steps are taken against them. Ketan Parekh was involved in the Rs 1124-crore Madhavpura Mercantile Co-operative Bank scam. He shook the entire co-operative banking sector of Gujarat and followed it up by the UTI scam and the GTB crisis. This was only because he was let-off. If appropriate steps were taken against him, many co-operative banks could have been saved," Gujjar said.

"Dhananjoy Chatterjee has been sentenced to death for raping and murder a girl. Scamsters are responsible for shattering thousands of lives, so we believe that they too deserve the strictest punishment so that an example could be set for the others," Gujjar added.

Gujarat co-operatives minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasma could not be reached for his comment.