NEW DELHI: The CBI has been made the nodal authority for banks to report high value frauds worth over Rs. 50 crore in public sector banks.
The move comes after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) noticed that banks do not have a focal point for filing complaints with the CBI.
As a result, the investigative agency has to deal with dispersed levels of authorities in banks.
“The CBI will act as centralised agency to receive complaints of frauds from banks,” Central Vigilance Commissioner K V Chowdary told PTI.
A Joint Director level officer has now been authorised in the CBI to receive complaints of frauds of over Rs. 50 crore from the banks. After receiving such reports, the officer can recommend investigation by any of the agency’s wings (Anti Corruption, Economic Offences or Bank Security and Fraud Cell), official sources said today.
The officer-in-charge can then also recommend a probe by the Enforcement Directorate, they said.
The Chief Vigilance Officers, who act as distant arm of Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to check corruption, of banks have been asked to act as nodal officers to coordinate in reporting such cases to the CBI, the sources said.
The CVC exercises superintendence over CBI for probing corruption cases.
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A total of 171 bank fraud cases involving funds of over Rs. 20,000 crore were probed by the CBI during 2015.
One of the high-profile bank fraud cases being probed by the CBI and ED is of liquor baron Vijay Mallya involving an amount of over Rs. 9,000 crore.
PTI