Appointment process of Syndicate Bank CMD S K Jain under CBI scanner

NEW DELHI: The appointment of suspended Syndicate Bank Chairman SK Jain has come under the CBI's scanner even as the initial probe into the bribery scandal indicated that the deal he struck with Prakash Industries was worth about Rs 3.5 crore.

CBI sources said they have also found that Jain was not the only top bank honcho who was dealing with middleman Pawan Bansal, who has emerged as a key actor in the case, and the agency is probing his links with the heads of at least three other financial institutions.

According to the sources, Jain may have received bribe of about Rs 3.5 crore from Prakash Industries for allegedly favouring the sanction of external commercial borrowings of $ 20 million.

Prakash Industries did not offer any comments and the mail sent in this regard remained unanswered.

"We will look into the process of Jain's appointment to see what had made him the preferred candidate for the top job," said a senior official of the agency.

Highly-placed sources in CBI said that the deal was allegedly struck through Bansal, one of the Directors of Altius Finserve Ltd, who made the payment to Jain but the agency missed the opportunity to nab him at the time of the transaction.

The sources said that Prakash Industries had submitted a proposal to Syndicate Bank for sanction of external commercial borrowings of USD 20 million for paying back foreign currency convertible bonds.

As per initial inquiries, Jain and Bansal were allegedly paid Rs 3.5 crore by Prakash Industries for clearing the proposal, the sources added. They clarified that the agency is still probing the mode of payment and other details as to how and when it was made.

They also said that the alleged bribe of Rs 50 lakh paid by Bhushan Steel to Jain for not declaring Rs 134 crore of bad loan as non-performing assets could be just one of the many instalments agreed upon.