Rs 6,000-crore forex scam: Bank of Baroda to hire external accounting agency

MUMBAI: State-owned Bank of Baroda will soon hire an external accounting agency to identify the loopholes that led to the Rs 6000-crore forex scam which was detected last week.

The bank will also present a report to its audit committee by next week, detailing the development pertaining to the forex transactions that are being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate.

This was conveyed by PS Jayakumar, MD and CEO of Bank of Baroda, who took charge of the bank on Tuesday. “We may be appointing an external accounting firm to see what escaped our eyes such as the KYC (know your customers) issue,” said Jayakumar, a former Citibanker.

“In the next one week, we will submit a proper plan to the audit committee on the matter…we have to make appropriate changes to the processes, structure and training so that a repeat of such instance doesn’t happen,” he said, as he laid out plans to plug the internal gaps. The bank has taken a hit on its reputation with two financial irregularities surfacing weeks before a new MD & CEO took charge. Earlier, it discovered Rs 350 crore bill discounting frauds in its Ahmedabad circle.