Hyderabad, October 22: Soon after the scam surfaced in August 2001, the Mahankali police had registered cases against 16 accused, bank chairman Venkateswara Rao and the directors. The case had been transferred to the CID. The accused were charged under various sections of the IPC and the AP Protection of Depositors of Financial Establishments Act.
Four CID teams along with audit officers and a team of chartered accountants examined 332 witnesses and scrutinised 5,000 documents running into 7,000 pages. The CID had sent 10 teams to Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat and other places to trace the accused and their assets. The CID attached properties worth Rs 189.4 million belonging to Venkateswara Rao and other former directors.
The chargesheet alleged that Venkateswara Rao had siphoned off money from the bank through his current account. To cover up the irregularity, he created 11 dummy accounts, 65 loan accounts, 286 term loans, 282 educational loans, 366 customer loans, 517 demand loans and 772 loans against fixed deposits of Rs 322.9 million raised from 11,000 depositors.
–Agencies