CBI should not probe business decisions- PSBs tell the Finance Minister......
We have been hearing this argument for a long time. It is not advisable to accept this argument especially in the context of the recent justifiably stepped up campaign against rampant corruption in Government and Public Sector enterprises. What is needed are adequate safeguards against ill informed proceedings against top executives of public sector banks which are already provided by the Fraud Board constituted in the RBI to which cases are referred to by the Finance Ministry. The Board scrutinises the papers, calls for such additional evidence as is required and then gives its recommendations to the Finance Ministry. When the Finance Ministry gives its clearance to the CBI, on the basis of the report of the Fraud Board, then only the Preliminary Enquiry (P.E) is converted into a regular case by the CBI. This procedure has been facilitated by the "Single Directive" in terms of which cases against officials in the rank of Joint Secretary and above require clearance from the Government.
The proceedings of the Board in the past have given ample indication where top executives of banks have sanctioned or renewed loans in a fraudulent manner either for illegal gratification or on account of pressure either from political masters or from other sources. The whole process had been done in some of these cases in such a clever manner giving an impression that the recommendation for sanction has been made from the First level officer in the hierarchy whereas the real picture was that it was done at the instance of verbal orders of the top executives !!
- A.Chandramouliswaran (via e-mail)
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